Lightning Flash and Thunder Crash
by AryaEragonPrincessShadeslayer
Summary: A headstrong Lily and stubborn James aren't really the perfect, ideal couple... But when tragedy strikes, will they be the glue that keeps the other from falling to pieces? Fortunately, with the help of thier friends, hilarity ensues. LilyJames- luv em!
1. Peter? Smart? WHAT?

**A/N: I cannot take all the credit for the witty lines. I do description, but the only reason my lines are funny is because of Caroline. I don't own Harry Potter or any of its characters, only Kay, Tara, and Sari. I also don't own Green Day, or any of the groups/singers I mention, and the music isn't relevant to the time period, but it's what I'm listening to Jango so whatever. This is my overall disclaimer, I don't like constantly putting them up.**

Lily Evans sat outside her dormitory window, which was thrown wide open. Rain poured inches from her face, and so she was gently splattered by water. A great flash of light appeared, along with a resounding crash. Lily loved late-night thunderstorms. It was perfect to rock a person to sleep, or to think. Often on these nights she would just lay in bed listening, but tonight even her own bed seemed like a prison. What she wanted more than anything was to be in James Potter's arms, and if she slept she knew she would dream of him. So tonight she sat on the windowseat she had made back in first year and let the rain, thunder, and lightning wash away all thoughts of James Potter. Nearby, her bed sat with its covers thrown wide open. The covers were black, with gold interlaced in patterns all over. Her canopy had been charmed so that it, also, was black and gold. Lily had always loved the way those two colors looked together. In her 'area' there were many drawings attached to the walls- she and her friends wanted to start a fashion business. Lily's head girl badge sat on her tabletop, next to a picture of Lily, Kay, Tara, Sari, James, Sirius, Remus, and Peter. Next to that was her lamp, charmed with a black and gold lampshade, and the light normally gave off a warm, golden glow. Her windowseat was black and gold, with a black fleece-like blanket and gold throw pillows. Lily had on black and gold pajama pants and a large black shirt. Her hair was pulled back into a high ponytail. To the other side, her friend Kay lay fast asleep. Kay's brown and pink hair fanned across the pillow, and her bed was identical to Lily's, except all the gold parts of Lily's part of the room were pink. The two best friends were like twins except for their looks. Like Lily's, the wall was plastered with drawings, but the drawing style was different. Lily's had a more of an anime look, but Kay's were the tall thin women with the billowing hair and little berets you see in commercials. On the other side of Kay, a completely different bed and area dominated almost one third of the dorm. It was a flurry of orange and pink, with flowing materials you expect to find on Indian women in Bollywood. There was an oak desk, with a pink sewing machine and an oak chair with an orange pillow. Sari lay on the bed, an Indian girl with long black hair that reached her waist. It, like Kay's, was sprawled across the pillows. On the other side of Lily's bed, green curtains were pulled back just enough to see a green and brown color scheme- with lots of plants and trees. Lily's other friend, Tara, wore green silk pajamas, and had medium length brown hair that went with the color scheme perfectly. She slept on a Japanese-style low to the ground bed, and had a brown blanket and thousands of green pillows. Her walls had flowers growing out of them in wild directions. In the corner, an area was curtained off where Tara's cotton grew, along with her silk worms. Back in that same corner was also spider webs, but nobody knew that but the four girls that occupied the dorm. Almost the entire school knew about this famous dorm, where the master creations four fashion geniuses emerged from. Lily and Kay designed, Tara made the fabrics, and Sari made the clothes. And then they wore them. Lily was assigned to Kay and Sari's clothes, while Kay did Lily and Tara's. All four girls counted on each other for ideas. At around three a.m., Lily crawled back into bed, and soon the only sound that could be heard was soft, even breathing and a thunderstorm.

Lily awoke to the sound of yawning. It was Saturday, the day that the girls slept in and had their "sleepovers", and also their day to design and planning upcoming outfits and accessories. As she stretched and yawned herself, Sari mumbled "We should go downstairs. I want food."

"You always want food." Tara mumbled back. The foursome trudged down the spiral staircase into the common room. Christmas Break had just started, and they, along with the Marauders, were the only ones staying behind in Gryffindor. Therefore, the 8 of them had the common room to themselves. The boys never woke up even semi-early and so the girls had the common room for the taking. The common room itself had a sort of beauty. The two large chairs in front of the fire were red with gold embroidery, and the table was a mahogany. There were more chairs and tables throughout the room, but there were no other fireplaces. The 7th years got that special place, even though the 1st years got it sometimes but eventually grew out of their infatuation. Today, this is where the girls gathered.

"So… Lily." Tara said, grinning evilly.

"Yeah?" Lily asked, already scared of the question.

"You were in your window seat again last night. Who are you thinking about?" Tara said, now smirking

"I just couldn't sleep. I wanted to watch the thunderstorm. You know how I am about that. And why do you think I'm thinking about a guy? You know I don't like a guy right now. I just don't like any of the boys. All of the boys in Gryffindor are…"

"Lily, shut up now." Kay advised.

"Kay, why'd you stop her? Next thing you know, she'd have blurted out a name, and we would know by now!" Tara complained.

"Tara!" Sari said, shocked. "Kay was being a good friend, unlike you."

"Thank you, Kay and Sari." Lily said, fake offended.

"Now, who is it?" Kay said.

"Yes, who is it?" Sari agreed while Tara grinned and all three looked at her.

"You guys!" Lily said, taken aback. "Now there's no way I'm telling you! Not that I like anybody!"

"Lily likes a guy, Lily likes a guy!" They sang, and Lily pouted.

"No I don't! I don't want to like him, so I don't!"

"You sound like Tara when she's refusing that she likes Sirius." Sari laughed.

"What! I do not!" Tara said, but you could see by the look on her face that she was lying. Tara was an awful liar.

"Whatever you say." Kay smiled angelically. "At least it's not as bad as Sari and Remus!"

"Excuse me!" Sari gasped. Sari wasn't such an awful liar, but it was well known that she and Remus liked each other.

"You know that if Remus wasn't as shy and worried about his 'furry little problem' you guys would be together by now!"

"You guys…" Tara said, grinning evilly again. "If we can accuse each other of liking the Marauders, except Peter, than who does Lily like?"

"Oh. My. God." Kay said, turning to Lily. "I can't believe you!"

"What?!"

"You're right! Lily, are you serious?"

"What?!?!"

"She is. You can see it written on her face!" Tara said.

"Tell me! What? What is it?"

"Now you guys can finally get together!" Sari squealed.

"I can't believe you guys? Who do I 'like'?" Lily said, exasperated.

"I still can't believe you!" Kay said, awestruck.

"AHH!" Lily yelled.

"You like James Potter!" The three of them yelled back.

"Shut up! They can hear you!" Lily panicked.

"So you do like him!"

"No! No! I just don't want him to get the wrong idea and be all smug. And then, he'll go and tell the whole world that the girl he's been chasing for years likes him. And then, I mean, it's not like her really cares anyway; I'm just the only girl who ever would turn him down! And then…"

"Lily! Shut up! The boys! I can hear them!" Kay whispered.

"Did they hear us? Ohmigawd!"

"Ohmigawd! Remus will hate me!"

"Sirius will freak!" Tara whispered.

"So you do like Sirius!"

"Will you all SHUT UP?" Silence reigned for minutes while they waited to see if the boys were coming down. They moved towards the boy's dorms and crept up the stairs, pressing their ears against the door. Then, howling laughter came from the depths of the dorms. The girls, excluding Kay, darted down the stairs and up their own, all freaking out. At the same time, just as the other girls disappeared behind the other door, the boys' dorm door flew open, revealing four laughing boys.

"Hi!" Kay said, before quickly fleeing the vicinity.

"That was odd." A boy with glasses and black hair that stuck up in the back said.

"James, you will never understand girls." Another boy with longer black hair said.

"And you do?" James said.

"No." Sirius responded. "You, Peter?"

"Never. Remus?"

"You people are pathetic."

"What is that supposed to mean?" Sirius complained.

"Sirius, that question answers itself."

"I resent that."

"It's true."

"I resent that too!"

"Sirius, stop digging. I'm hungry. Let's go see if the girls want food." James said.

"Of course, you would want to go see the girls. Seeing as you've been practically stalking Lily. For _seven _years. It gets old, James. It gets old." Sirius said.

"I think James is right." Peter said meekly. Of course, nobody pays any attention to whether or not Peter thinks they are right, so this comment was ignored.

"Remus, what do you think?"

"We might as well go ask them."

"Fine! But I'm waking up Tara."

"Sirius, you say I'm obsessed." James said.

"I resent that!"

"Is that your only comeback?"

"No! I resent that!"

"I'm not going to comment."

"You just did! Ha! There's that comeback!"

"…"

"I'm done now." The four boys continue out of the dorms, heading across to the stairs that led up to the girls' dorms. They then stood there, contemplating.

"They'll be mad."

"They'll be furious."

"Lily will be mad at me."

"What the hell, James?"

"Well, she will be!"

"Let's go." The boys muttered a quick levitation spell, and floated up the stairs. At the top, Peter fell down the stairs. He decided to wait for the others at breakfast.

"Ok then. Let's go." James led the small group up the stairs and banged on the door.

"You guys want to go to breakfast?" he called. A series of screams came from the inside, followed by whispers.

"Oh my god! They know, they know. They know!" Sari shrieked.

"Calm down, let's go!" Kay said, bored with her friends antics.

"I can't!" Lily freaked. "He'll bug the hell out of me!"

"Maybe they didn't hear us!" Tara said.

"You guys need help." Kay said, and swung the door open.

"No!" The other girls screeched.

"What's so bad about it?" James said from the other side. "We won't bite."

"It's not like you're naked!" Sirius said.

"Sirius, you creeper!" Tara said.

"You're digging again. Stop!" Remus said. "You want to go eat?"

"Yeah, sure. Let us get dressed. We'll meet you in the common room." Lily said, finally giving in. James grinned at her. "How did you guys get in here?"

"Levitation." James said to her. "Figured it out last year."

"Why were you trying to get in here?" Lily said suspiciously.

"We just felt like being able to, in case we wanted to." James responded nonchalantly.

"Okay then. Out!"

"Meet you down there!"

The seven Gryffindors headed downstairs, looking out for Peter as they went. Of course, chances were Peter had really gone back to bed, but they looked anyway. When they got to the Great Hall, they all sat down at the Gryffindor table. It had scrambled eggs, toast, bacon, sausage, waffles, crepes, croissants, strawberries and pancakes all piled high.

"The house elves are going to make us explode one day." Sirius said knowledgably. Everyone gave him odd looks. "What? There's so much food!"

"Ok then." Kay said, turning to the food. They all dug in, and sometime during their feast Peter came wandering in, looking lost. Nobody questioned him, and when they all finished they split of into their two groups and headed off. The girls went back up to their dorm, and the boys went off to the quidditch pitch.

"No."

"Yes."

"No."

"Yes!"

"No."

"Yes! Yay!"

"No, no, no, no, please no." Lily begged. "Please, no."

"Oh, no," Lily sighed in relief. "It's yes."

"AHHHH!" Sari, Kay, and Tara had been annoying Lily about James since breakfast. She simply couldn't take it anymore! "I'm going for a walk." She said, and grabbed her charmed earphones.

"Wait! No!" Her friends called out.

She left anyway, listening to the music she grew up to. Muggle music always helped her to focus. As she played Green Day's Welcome to Paradise, she thought about how the song was relevant to her life. Sure, her friends made her beyond mad sometimes, and she was confused about Potter, but her life was basically paradise. Her world was basically untouched by the war that was brewing. She was lucky that way. Many of the kids at her school had been hit hard blows by Voldemort, and it was getting so bad that people were afraid of his name. She knew that Ali, a sixth year that she was close with, was suffering because her dad had been captured and nobody knew where he was. Since she was muggle born, something was likely to happen soon. She had been protected by Sev earlier, and really didn't have to worry because of his 'connections.' Lily didn't like to think of Sev- he had really hurt.

"Lily!" Kay called from across the lake. Lily knew that Kay didn't really see her, but she was the only one who knew her hideout- here. Kay started around the lake, continuing to glance behind her. Kay knew that if anyone found this place because of her, Lily would just about throttle her.

"You found me." Lily joked.

"It's not hard. We didn't mean to make you go away. Come back- please?"

"It's not that… it's that you guys are right." Lily sighed. "I like James Potter- a lot. But I'm not going to tell him! As I said before, I don't think he really cares. If I could know he really, truly, liked me, then I might say yes. Before, I hated him, that's true. But Sev influenced that. And when… when Mary told me he really was a good guy and that Sev wasn't… it made me hate him more. He was better than Sev, and I knew it. I was so stupid. I'm hurt because of Sev, and because of the whole James thing. I just don't know what to think. I know that my life is pretty much perfect right now, and ever since Mary left I didn't know how much longer I had to have a perfect life. And now I feel like I'm complaining something I shouldn't be complaining about it."

"It's okay- you have something to complain about, but don't be so open about it. The Marauders are suspecting something. I'm the closest with them out of all of us, seeing as you all like each other."

"You make me feel so much better."

"You're welcome."

"We should go though- they're all looking for you. They wanted to have a picnic."

"Tell them I'm coming- I'll be just a little. I want a little time on my own. Don't worry- I just need a little time to think."

"Okay- I'll tell them. Meet us by our tree."

"M-hm." Lily murmured, turning up the music.

"Lily!" Sari called. "We're so sorry about bugging you about…" Tara covered her mouth.

"You idiot." Tara said, rolling her eyes. "What song?" She said, knowing Lily all to well.

"Live your Life." Lily said. "I know. Shut up."

"What?" James said.

"When Lily is upset, mad, bored, confused, annoyed, or just lonely she listens to muggle music. It cures her." Kay said.

"Pretty much sums it up." Lily said, shrugging.

"Can I listen?" He asked, holding out his hand for the earphones.

"Uh… let me check the song. Yeah, this works. Some songs you wouldn't get, and others I'd rather you not listen to."

"Why?" James asked, but didn't push it when she didn't respond. He tugged the earphones on and adjusted them. When the song was over, he passed it to Lily. "It's good. What's this one?"

"Boulevard of Broken Dreams- Green Day is one of my favorites. It's kind of depressing, but still good!"

"Anyway, we brought food!" Sirius said, rubbing his hands together and opening up the picnic basket and waving his wand.

"Is this safe?" Tara asked.

"Yes! I resent that!" Sirius said. Everybody just rolled their eyes and reached for their food. When they were done, they all laid back.

"Let's play a game!" Kay said excitedly.

"Like what?" Remus said, leaning against the tree.

"I never. It's fun! For example, I could say 'I never got detention for three months straight.' Anybody who had gotten a detention for three months straight takes a shot of butterbeer. We keep a tally, and whoever takes the least amount of shots wins."

"What do we get if we win?" Sirius asked.

"Actually, we do a punishment for the loser." Kay said, smirking. "Want to play?"

"We're not cowards!" Remus said, looking at James, Sirius and Peter, who nodded.

"Alright!" Kay waved her wand, and a shot glass and bottle of butterbeer appeared in front of everyone.

"How'd you get the butterbeer?" James asked.

"Your room. I know where you hide it." Kay said, smirking as the boys, namely James and Sirius, pouted.

"I'll start!" Tara shouted. "I never turned down somebody I liked." Lily scowled at Tara and took a shot. So did Remus and Sirius.

"Lily?" Sirius asked. "Who?"

"Nobody said I had to tell!" Lily said. "Who's next?"

"We'll go clockwise so Sari's next." Kay said knowledgably.

"I never… lied about my feelings." Sari said. Lily groaned, took another shot, along with Remus and James. Then, after many nudges, Tara and Sirius did the same.

"My turn?" Peter said. When everyone nodded, he continued. "I never told somebody I hated them when I didn't."

"Are you all out to get me?" Lily said, exasperated and taking another shot, along with Tara, Sirius, James, Peter and Kay.

"I never… was best friends with Snivellus." Sirius said, just to annoy Lily, who threw a pillow she conjured at him. She took the shot, this time alone.

"I never constantly asked a person out." Remus said, and Lily let out a sigh of relief as James took a swig.

"I never ate a banapple." James said, and Sirius took a shot. Everybody looked at him, and he sighed.

"I made one with magic- combined a banana and apple. I wouldn't recommend it, but they're really good!" Everyone looked at him strangely again. "Lily's turn!"

"I never bugged my best friend for three hours straight about their crush." All of her friends took a shot, looking guilty. All of the boys looked at her and laughed. The game continued on.

Kay-I never called somebody and then hung up four times; James and Sirius

Tara-I never watched somebody sleep creepily; Sirius, James and Remus

Sari-I never told somebody to bugger off even though I didn't want them to; Lily

Peter-I never kissed somebody I hated; Lily, Tara, Kay, James, and Sirius

Sirius-I never stay up thinking of a person I like; Sari, Lily, James, and Remus

Remus- I never exploded the kitchens; Sirius

James- I never have been in the Slytherin common room; Lily, Peter and Sirius

Lily- I never snuck out to go to Hogsmeade; Tara, Sirius, James, Peter and Remus

Kay- I never played 7 minutes in Heaven; Lily

"Okay! Here are the results." Kay said. "Sirius lost, with 10 points, then Lily with 9, James with 8, Tara and Remus with 5, and Me, Sari, and Peter win with 3."

"How about instead of punishing Sirius, the winners get a point. Throughout the break, we'll play as many games and tournaments and the overall winner(s) get points. At the end of break, they win something like everyone else pays for a surprise for them." Peter said. They all stared, as Peter wasn't particularly smart.

"Brilliant, Peter!" Sirius said, clapping him on his back. Peter smiled sheepishly.

"Alright. So overall, Kay, Peter, and Sari are winning with a point." Tara said. "What's the next game?"

"Well, I think we should play a game per day." Peter said. "So, we'll decide tomorrow."

"Makes sense." Lily said.

"Lily Evans!" Professor McGonagall called over the grounds. "Can I see you in my office for a minute?"

"Ooooooh! Lily's in trouble!" Sirius said childishly. Lily just rolled her eyes and stood up.

"Kay, if you need to find me later, you know where. I need to think some more." Lily said. "I'd prefer to be by myself, so unless you really need me…" Lily trailed off. "See you guys later!" She followed McGonagall towards the castle.

A little while later, James was walking around the lake when he heard somebody crying.

"Hello?" he called. The crying ceased instantly. "Is anybody there?" he shrugged it off and continued on his way along the lake towards his rendezvous point with Sirius.

"James!" Sirius called. "Hurry up!" he was complaining because James was at a standstill. He had heard that crying again.

"Do you… hear somebody crying?" The crying stopped again.

"No. Are you out of your mind? Come on, we've got to get going!"

"Okay…" James said uncertainly. "You know what; I'll meet up with you in a few minutes at that huge tree in the center of the forest. I want to find the crying."

"James, you're mad. Meet you there."

James headed partway into the forest, waiting to hear the crying again. It came from his left… He pushed through the trees and ended up at a part of the lake he'd never come to before. A weeping willow sat in the middle of a tiny bank. It was wide and had branches that hung to the ground. The bank was rocky, and many of the rocks were perfect to sit on and dangle your feet in the water. One rock in particular was overlarge and slightly flat, and if you sat on it, you could skip the rocks that surrounded it like an altar. The crying James had heard earlier seemed to come from inside of the willow. He pushed aside the branches, and Lily Evans sat leaning against the knotted trunk, her head against her knees.

"Lily?" James asked, and she raised her head, her eyes slightly red from the crying. "Are you okay?" he sat down next to her.

"I'm fine." James laughed inwardly at that.

"No, you're not." James said. "Was it the meeting with McGonagall?"

"No…"

"Lily…"

"Maybe a little."

"What happened? Why didn't you go to your friends? As far as I know, you guys are peas in a pod." He said, now genuinely concerned.

"I wanted to be alone for a little bit."

"If you don't want to tell me, that is fine. But I'm here if you need me." They sat in silence for a few minutes.

"My parents died." Lily said, and promptly burst into tears. James sat there shocked and then held her close.

"It's okay, Lily." He whispered, letting her cry. After a few more minutes, she sat up and dried her eyes. "I think you should tell your friends. They might help." She nodded.

"I was going to… but I wanted to be by myself for a little bit." She waved her wand and her eyes lost their red, puffy look. "James… thank you." She kissed his cheek and left the bank. James stood there, shocked.

"Lily!" Kay jumped up and went to her friend. "Are you okay? We were so worried. You're not usually not gone this long. I thought about coming to get you."

"I'm okay." Lily said softly.

"You've been crying." Sari said, coming over to sit with her on the bed. Tara sat with them, and they turned around. The girls sat in a circle.

"Are you okay?" Tara asked, her kinder, friendly side kicking in. Lily just let a few tears leak out.

"Lily! What's the matter?" Sari said, reaching over and hugging her. They all knew Lily didn't cry easily, especially in front of other people. The only time she had ever cried in front of them was in fifth year after the Snape incident. But they had all seen it coming, and been surprised it had lasted. This time, none of them had the vaguest idea what was going on.

"My parents died." Then, once again, she began to sob. The three girls looked shocked. This time, Kay hugged her.

"It'll be okay, Lily. It'll be okay." Tara said.

"That's what he said." Lily said, smiling slightly through her tears.

"Who?" Sari asked

"Never mind." Nobody pushed it.

"What convinced you to come back to us? Knowing you, you would have stayed there all night if we had let you."

"James found me crying. That's who said what Tara said. He convinced me to come back to you guys. I was planning on staying there, yes." She said, trying to steer the conversation out of the 'James' area. Three squeals resounded through the room.

"Tell us everything!"

"I was crying, he found me, I told him, he told me to go to you guys too."

"Nice explanation." Kay said. "We mean everything." Lily sighed, but at least it took her mind slightly off her parents.

"After McGonagall told me, I went to my place. You know, where I go to listen to my music."

"That you still haven't showed to us." Tara said.

"That's the one! Anyway, he heard me crying. He called out, but I stopped for a minute because I tried to recover so that he wouldn't find me. When I thought he was gone, I cried again. I heard him talking to Sirius and I stopped to listen. They started off someplace and I started to cry again, but I guess he looked for the crying. I didn't hear him until he said my name. He was there, and he asked me what was wrong. I didn't really want to talk about it, so he just sat next to me and we just sat there. I eventually told him and he held me while I cried telling me everything would be alright. He talked to me, saying that he was surprised I didn't go to you guys. He said that I really should go to you guys."

"That's so sweet!" Sari said, smiling. "It'll all get better, you'll see."

**A/N: So that's the first chapter. I'm going to put up a poll asking if you would read more. Unless that poll says yes, I won't be able to update. Thank you guys so much!**


	2. Lily, James and PinkyPinkiness don't mix

**A/N: Dammit, this story is to long. My poor hands hurt real bad. Oh well, they can deal. This is so much fun! I luv this story. **

**Update- So far, Lightning Flash and Thunder Crash is winning. If you would like to see the poll closed and a final decision, please vote! As soon as I have 10-12 people vote in it, it is closed. So far I have six. Only four to six more votes- please vote so that I can reach a final decision.**

**Lucia and Marci and Linzi are my characters.**

"It'll all get better, you'll see." Mrs. Evans said.

"Don't worry Lily. We love you, we'll always be here. And even though you can't see us, where will we be?" Mr. Evans asked, and a crying Lily shook her head. Mr. Evans took her hand into hers and laid it over her heart. "Right here." He said softly, just like he had when Petunia or Lily had gotten upset when they were young. The two adults began to fade into the background,

"I love you daddy. I love you mommy." Lily whispered through her tears. "I miss you." More tears flowed down her cheeks.

"Listen to your friends. They're your family too." Her mom said, but it came out hoarse as she continued fade away. "We love you." As they faded away, Lily's tears only came down faster. She reached out and grasped the hands of both her parents until they were only shadows.

"Bye Mommy. Bye Daddy. I won't ever forget you." Lily murmured before collapsing to the ground in tears.

"Lily. Lily. Lily. Lily. Lily." Her name in her parent's voices echoed around her as she cried and eventually drifted off.

"Lily! Lily! Lily! Lily! Lily!" Kay shouted, jumping up and down on Lily's bed. "C'mon, it's almost noon! We let you sleep forever!" Lily groaned and rolled over. "James Potter was asking about you." Kay whispered in her ear.

"What? Who? What did he say? Not that I care but… he didn't tell everyone did he?"

"No, not a word. He's a good actor. It kind of helps he's was obsessed with you up until this year. I think he's gotten smarter- but don't worry, he still likes you. A lot." Kay said cheerfully.

"You are _so_ unhelpful." Lily whimpered. "I hate mixed messages just after I woke up."

"HE. LIKES. YOU. BUT. HE. IS. NO. LONGER. AN. IDIOT." Kay said loudly in Lily's ear. "Clear enough for ya?"

"I think. Let's go eat breakfast."

"Technically, it's lunch."

"Shut up."

"Lily! Are you alright?" Sari asked when Lily plopped down next to her and across from James, who was looking at her, concerned.

"I'm fine. Thanks though." She said, looking directly at James, who got the message and smiled. She looked towards Sari, who looked at them questioningly. She shook her head.

"Later." She mouthed.

"So, Lily. How did you sleep?" Remus asked.

"The better question would be; what the hell is wrong with you, Lily?" Sirius said. James and Remus glared at him.

"I slept… awfully." Lily said. "And Remus, I will tell you and Peter later. It will be fun to keep Sirius in the dark."

"I resent that."

"It's not funny anymore."

"Sorry."

"No you're not!" Remus said, grinning. "But, okay. Lily, that works for me. He'd spread it in about 10 seconds."

"That's impossible!"

"Sirius, you'll tell Lucia."

"That's _not_ impossible." Sirius said, changing his mind instantly. Lucia was the gossip queen of Hogwarts. She spewed gossip like a fountain spews water. You tell Lucia, and the whole world knew in seconds- she had better connections than Rita Skeeter, the newest addition to the Daily Prophet. With long, sleek brown hair and wide, deep eyes, she had the most trusting look. You couldn't help it… Lucia was the kind of girl you told. The thing was, while she never seemed to keep a secret, she did. She could keep in a secret for a lifetime, unless she was forced to let it out. She was the gossip queen, but nice to everyone. She had to be the greatest enigma that ever set foot in Hogwarts.

"And I have my reasons for not telling you." Lily said confidently. "You would not only tell Lucia, but probably Marci, and Linzi too. They would twist and manipulate it into something like _I_ was the one who killed my parents… I did _not_ just say that." She said, staring at the gawking faces of Remus and Sirius. Peter just kept eating.

"Lily… I won't tell, I promise." Sirius said hoarsely. "Why would I tell somebody that?"

"You are the second biggest gossiper in the entire school."

"Maybe… but I'm not evil!"

"Okay… but no telling!"

"I won't!"

"Hey, guys, don't we have a game to play?" Peter piped up. "We have to pick what we're doing."

"Let's have a Twister tournament!" Sari squealed.

"What?"

"It's a Muggle game. I can teach it to you, it's a lot of fun! What do you think, Lily? You've played Twister, right?"

"Yes… but I don't think it's quite right for what we are doing. I mean, we should do something more dynamic like Truth or Dare… but we should play that later."

"Why?"

"Because it's one of the best games… so we save it for later."

"Okay… what else can we play?"

"Um… there is this one game. It's called Gossip Girl, but I don't really know how to play."

"We'll make it up!" Sirius exclaimed.

"Okay, Sirius, what are your ideas?"

"I don't get ideas, just random thoughts." He replied, shaking his head. Lily sighed. This was going to take some time.

"Okay, since it is called Gossip Girl, it obviously has something to do with Gossip…and a girl." Sirius said, focusing on his 'inner smarticalness.'

"Really? I didn't know that, O Smart One." Tara said sarcastically.

"Aw, thanks, Tara!" Sirius smiled. Nobody really wanted to tell him she was being sarcastic. They all set back and thought for a moment.

"What if we all spread one piece of gossip around the school, and then whoever found out everybody else's piece of gossip first, wins?" James asked.

"How will we do that?" Sirius whined.

"Figure it out for yourself." Tara snapped at him.

"Actually, that might not be so bad… it could be fun!" Lily said, smiling at James. He grinned back at her and quickly she turned her head away, so that he wouldn't see her blushing. He saw it anyway, and it only caused the grin on his face to spread that much more. This made her blush even more. 'It was a vicious circle,' she thought. 'Stupid vicious circles. Stupid, stupid vicious circles. Circles are dumb. They shouldn't exist. And now I'm rambling _to myself_. Wow. Great. Oh! And complaining about _circles_. Once again, to myself! Gawd!'

"LILY! LIIIIIIIIIIIIIIILYYYYYY!" James yelled, waving his hand in front of my face. "We were ready to start. Are you?"

"What? Oh, yeah. But don't you think circles are stupid?"

"Um…"

"No! What I meant was, don't you think we should have some sort of referee to control the game? It could be one of the people leading in points so far."

"I will!" Peter said automatically. "I don't like gossip. It usually leads to somebody getting hurt." Kay rolled her eyes.

"Okay, so Peter is ref. Now what?" Remus asked.

"GO!" yelled Sirius, running off. The rest of them shrugged, laughed and started off on their own ways.

"I'll be right here!" Peter yelled, grabbing his bag to work on one essay or another. "Don't disturb me unless it's important~ I have like four essays for Slughorn."

"Damn!" James and Lily said at the same time.

"You didn't do the essays, did you?" James said. Lily shook her head grimly. "Me either. We'll do it some other time." They both raced off.

"Hey! Lucia!" Lily yelled. "I have a strange request, but it involves a juicy tidbit."

"I'm game." The small girl said. "What is your strange request?"

"I need you to spread this gossip like wildfire. And _nobody_ can know I am the source. Also, you need to refuse anybody else who tells you they have gossip today such as James, Sirius, Remus, Kay, Tara, or Sari. Though you don't ever really care, I need you to know that all their gossip is fake. Have them tell you the gossip and then report it to me, okay?"

"Sure! Sounds like fun. We're in it together! And I get good gossip with permission to spread it. So what **is** your gossip?"

"Okay, you'll never guess what happened last night."

"What? What?" Lucia squealed, her eyes lighting up with the prospect of new gossip.

"You know how Tammi and Sam obviously hate each other's guts? AND how they're both going out with each other's best friends? Well, it was all a set up and last night, I saw them sneak out of the passage and into Hogsmeade. They were trying to make the other jealous, and now they're both in trouble for sneaking out. I also heard that when they came back, Tammi got spotted by her boyfriend and he stole Sam's girlfriend to get revenge."

"Seriously?" She asked, eyes wide.

"Seriously." She nodded gravely. "Now, go spread it! Wildfire, Lucia, Wildfire! Do what you do best! Other than keeping serious secrets, that is."

"Alright!" She yelled over her shoulder, already sprinting off into the Great Hall. Lily rolled her eyes at her friend's antics. Lucia knew that Sam and Tammi liked each other, but hey, at least she was doing Lily a favor.

"Lucia!" Sirius said. "I got some gossip you have to spread like butter n bread! Hey, that rhymed! I'm a poet and I didn't know it! I'm amazing!"

"Sirius, honestly?"

"Okay, okay. Anyway, this piece of gossip I have… uh… Lily and James are secretly married!" Sirius said excitedly.

"Really?" Lucia said, sounding interested. "I need details!"

"Oh, um, well, they had the ceremony over the summer and I went. The theme was… Pinky Pinkiness." Sirius said, oblivious to Lucia's rolling eyes.

"Okay Sirius. It'll be around school in a half hour, tops." Then she looked at him expectantly, as if waiting for him to ask something else of her.

"Uh… that's all!" He said, darting away as she glared.

"Idiot." She mumbled, and then turned on her heel to go find Lily and spread the rumor. Of course, she had to spread the rumor first, because Lily wouldn't let her.

"Lucia! My bestest-estest-estest friend!" James said joyfully. "I need you to tell everybody that Peter is now officially part of the Gobstones secret society!"

"James, why the hell would anybody care?"

"I dunno, I hadn't thought that far ahead yet. But scandalize that as much as you want, and DON'T TELL ANYBODY I said it. Also, any gossip you get from, say, my fellow marauders or Lily and her friends, pray do tell!"

"Sure James, I'll see what I can do." Lucia said, a plan already forming in her mind. "Now, if you excuse me, I really must go speak with a fellow partner-in-crime!"

"Thanks Lucia, I owe you one!"

"Seeing you and Lily get together would be enough." She mumbled under her breath and continued down the hallway while James hurried off in another direction.

"Hey, Lucia. You'll never guess what I heard the other day!" Kay said, with an aura of excitement. "I heard that Celestina Warbeck is cheating on her boyfriend with Arnie!"

"You're not serious!"

"I am so serious!"

"Oh my god! The press is going to be all over her! And her new album is coming out. My question is, how does she juggle Hogwarts and recording her sappy love songs at the same time?"

"I don't know! But she's like, a total multitasker. Have you seen her cook? She talks on the phone at the same time, and also listens and sings along to the radio, and cooks at least 4 things at once. She likes to help the house elves."

"That's really good! She can at least cover up her scandals with good deeds!" Lucia laughed.

"Also, Lucia, I'd rather nobody know that I was spreading the rumor, I actually really like Celestina, and I don't want her angry at me!"

"No problem!"

"And you're going to keep me updated on any new gossip that goes around, right?"

"Of course! I have a few new things I got to go spread, so I'll be back soon!"

"Bye! Thanks so much, Lucia!" Kay called after her, smirking slightly as she bounced off. 'That was easy.' She thought, copying a Staples easy button and laughing.

"Lucia!" A voice called when Lucia flipped open her Wiz-Talk 800. It was a sleek, new phone centuries ahead of the clunky things Muggles used. "I heard you and Carl were back on! Is it true? Cuz the hottest new couple is so off the list if it is!"

"Which hottest new couple? And no, Carl and I are so not back on!"

"Okay then! Well, duh, Lily and James are. Oh, and it is SO not true that they got married, cuz I would be invited!"

"Sari, I know for a fact that they are together now. Thanks so much! I'll have to talk to that slimebag who gave me that tip."

"Which slimebag might that have been, may I ask?"

"I have to narrow it down to the source, so I may not even be able to find it. But you'll know once I do, I'm telling ya!"

"Ooh, I can't wait! Pray do tell any new gossip."

"Not much right now. My two people of the day have already been picked, sorry!"

"Ugh! I'm not too late! Who is it?"

"No can do, Sari. You know that!"

"Fine. Bye!" Sari said. She knew that if Lucia's two people were picked, she was in serious trouble.

"Tara! Hey, Tara!" Lucia yelled.

"Lucia! The very person I wanted to see." Tara said, grinning. "You know all about Remus and Sari, I presume."

"No, I don't!"

"Well, other than the obvious…"

"What obvious?"

"Well, everybody knows that obvious! Don't tell me the gossip queen doesn't know! Are you getting behind, Lucia?" Tara said, her eyes widening. She knew exactly how to push Lucia's buttons just the right way.

"No, I just was making sure we were talking about the same thing. So what are you talking about?"

"What are you thinking of?"

"No fair! I asked first." Lucia said, pouting.

"Well, first of all they got together."

"I knew that."

"That was the obvious part!"

"So what, there's a non-obvious part?" Lucia replied, smirking.

"Yes." Tara growled back. "They also are the reason Sari broke up with Tyler who is swearing revenge on any guy who dates her in the next three months after they broke up because he thinks she dumped him for another guy. It's been two and a half months… Remus better watch it."

"Alright, Tara. Listen, I have to go. Bye!"

"Wait!" Tara called after her desperately. "What- oh, shit. She's gone." Tara slumped and strolled away unhappily.

"Hey, um, Lucia! Remus here." Remus said into his Wiz-Talk.

"Remus, how are you and Sari?"

"Me and who?" Remus panicked.

"Oops, slip of the tongue. Sorry, hun, but that's the gossip of the day! You and Sari and Lily and James." Remus groaned.

"Wait- what about Tara and Sirius?" He asked. "Surely they're pretty high up there."

"OH. Really. Well, they will be, and I really must go. Buh-bye!"

"Lucia- oh, never mind." He said angrily and walked off.

"Peter!" Identical shouts came from across the room. "Peter, I'm done!"

"Oh. It's a tie then… if you both have it right. Let's do it like this. Lily, conjure two mini white boards. James, conjure two white board markers."

"Okay!" The two immediately conjured the items and Lily gave a white board to James, and James a marker to Lily.

"We'll start with each other. Write down the other's piece of gossip." James sprawled 'dirt on Tammi and Sam.' Lily neatly wrote 'Peter joined the Gobstomes Club which really is a secret dark organization.'

"Both of you are right. By the way, thanks James."

"Actually, I said Peter joined a secret Gobstones organization, spice it up Lucia."

"M-hm, right. Now, Remus said what?"

Tara and Sirius are together and Tara and Sirius are going out behind their friends' backs THANX FOR TELLING ME TARA!!!

Sari- Me and Lily are together… and Sari is evil and Me and James are together. What a gawd awful friend.

Kay- Celestina's a cheater and Celestina is cheating- I happen to like Celestina!

Sirius- Me and Lily got secretly married- Pinky Pinkiness? Honestly? and James and I got secretly married and he was a witness and our theme was BLOODY PINKY PINKINESS!

Tara- Remus and Sari! Always knew they were cute together! and Sari and Remus- ADORABLE

"Well, it's a tie! You both get a point. It's all tied up for first- Lily, James, Me, Kay, and Sari. Basically, not Sirius, Tara or Remus."

"You're so kind, Peter."

"Thank you, Remus."

"Lily! Can I talk to you a bit?" James asked. "ALONE, THANKS, SIRIUS!"

"Sure, James, what is it?"

"Um… this way." James pulled her down a few hallways, making sure they were alone. "Are you okay? You seem a bit off today- not just in a sadness way, ya know why."

"Uh-huh." Lily smiled sadly. "I'm fine James. Don't worry, I really am okay."

"You know you can come to me with anything you don't fell right about, right?"

"I know James. This means a lot to me. I'm glad you've been there." She stretched up on her toes, kissed him on the cheek and darted off. James was left standing there like a dumb ass- holding his hand to his cheek and staring off to where Lily had just run off too.

'That was stupid, that was stupid, oh my gawd, that was idiotic.' Lily thought as she raced towards the dorm. She flew up the stairs and threw herself into the room, breathing heavily from the run. "I hope he didn't take that too seriously!" She squealed.

"Who didn't take what too seriously, Lily?"

**A/N: Well, here we are! At the end of a second chapter. Sorry this one took a while. I have one note to make. While I am writing this story for your enjoyment and I normally don't care much about reviews, I've only had one. And I know you guys sometimes just don't feel like it, sometimes I get that way too! But if any of you are authors of stories that say 'Oh, oh please review.' You know what I'm talking about. If there aren't any reviews, I will continue the story, I'm not going to stop it. But reviews always boost my confidence- right now I fell like I have a few people liking my story and the rest are all like "This is a gawd awful story!" Anyway, thanks to lovefrog159- you rock!**


	3. Benji Madden?

**A/N: Alright, here we are, third chapter! I know the last chapter had a bit of a cliffy and I'm getting this one up as fast as I can! Also, to all other people out there who are just waiting for school to end- hallelujah to summer- know that stupid homework gets in the way. Anyway! Onward and Upward! Also- two more votes to the final decision when I can rest my head! The current is 5-3, LFTC is winning. Okay, continuing…  
**

"I didn't mean anything!" Lily insisted, making her way downstairs to breakfast. "Tara, honestly, I wasn't talking about anything at all. Just hallucinating!" Lily laughed nervously."

"I know I've been bugging you since you tuned up at the dorm door saying 'It didn't mean anything, I swear!' like you were praying to God. But honestly, you're hiding something! We promised to not do that! We're like family here- we're going to all find out sooner or later."

"I know that."

"But I'd rather hear it from your mouth, Lils!"

"I know that too, and you might. Later."

"Ugh! Lily!"

"Ew! Tara!"

"What?"

"I don't know. I just… honestly, Tara, I'm so confused right now. Don't tell anybody anything I've said, okay? Please?"

"Yeah, yeah."

"Thank you!"

"Yup."

"Are you distracted?"

"Uh-huh."

"Are you… Tara! Are you staring at-"

"NO! Lily, what are you talking about, that's what I meant to say, uh-huh!" Tara smiled wide.

"You look like an idiot. Tara, you never smile like that! What's going on?"

"I'll keep your secret, you keep mine. Deal?"

"Deal."

"Jamesie! You're, like, totally out of it." Sirius said seriously.

"What do you want, Padfoot?"

"Nuthin."

"Nuthin what?"

"Can I ask you a question?"

"You just did." James said, looking bored out of his mind.

"Is that a yes or no?"

"Just ask the damn question!"

"So, when _are _you and Lilsie getting married? Oh! I call best man! And the theme is totally going to be Pinky Pinkiness." Sirius said excitedly. "Honestly, James, you really need to get a move on. Next thing you know, she'll be married to someone like… Benji Madden!"

"…"

"Okay, maybe no Benji Madden."

"Sirius…"

"Don't you Sirius me! This is a serious matter!" Sirius said. "Get it James? Sirus, seriously? I am so funny!"

"No, Sirius, you're really not."

"Ugh. Leave me alone, Prongs. You're ruining my moment!" Sirius stormed out. Then he stormed back in. "Now, back to the Lily thing?" James groaned.

"Sirius, right now we're just friends. And I'm okay with that."

"But that kid… uh… Charlie, the gay-but-straight guy, has been eyeing her."

"The gay-but-straight guy?" James asked, raising an eyebrow.

"The one that I call gay because I don't like him, but he is really straight. I know that cause-"

"I don't even want to know."

"Right."

"Alright, Game Numero Tres!"

"So, let's play a traditional game. Like one people play every day. Muggles play every day." Remus said. "I think that would be fun."

"Lilsie! What games do Muggles play often?"

"Well, there's Tag, but I don't know if that's a good idea."

"Tag?"

"You run around trying to tag somebody."

"Tag somebody?"  
"Touch them."

"…"

"Perverts." Lily mumbled. "Like so… James, Sirius, Tara, run." Lily chased all three of them, James and Tara laughing, Sirius screaming like a banshee. She touched Tara lightly on the shoulder. "Tag! You're it!"

"How do we determine a winner?"

"We're not playing Tag. It is not for the immature, plus everybody has to be fast or it's not fun." Lily said.

"How about that game we played with Tuney and her friends?" Kay asked.

"Perfect! We'll play Hide N Go Seek."

"Hide N Go Seek?"

"Sirius, honestly. There is a Seeker, and everybody hides. Then, the seeker goes and looks for them!"

"Ohhhhhhhh, I get it!" Sirius said excitedly. "Tara's it, GO!"

"Tara, count to 100!" Lily yelled over her shoulder.

"What? But… you guys!" Tara sighed. "1…2…3…4…"

Lily slipped into a random broom closet and shut the door, gasping. She had no idea where she was, but quickly dodged into a large sarcophagus-like box. It had enough room for a couple of people, and she slid into a sitting position. A rugged breathing was sounding throughout the box, but she thought it was her… until she noticed that she was panting, and the breaths were much different than hers. "Hello?" she whispered fearfully.

"Lily?" A voice whispered back. "When did you get in here?"

"You didn't see me open the door? Who is this, anyway?"

"It's James."

"Sorry! I'll go now… I know a good hiding spot."

"Wait… Lily, how do you know about the Room of Requirement?"

"The WHAT?"

"This is the Room of Requirement. You know that, right?"

"No…"

"Oh. Wait…what floor were you on?"

"I actually think I was in the dungeons. I just ran downwards."

"Oh… that's not where the room is."

"Where is it?"

"Across from the tapestry of the ballerinas."

"Oh."

"So, um…"

"I think I'll go hide somewhere else now."

"Okay then… so long now." Lily started to tug on the handle of the box…

"Wait, James, why is there a handle?" Lily questioned. She tugged again. "And why is it locked?"

"Found you, Sirius. Honestly, you were basically thundering around locking closets. Like wtf?" Tara said, rolling her eyes.

"I thought if I locked all the closets, maybe then you would have to take the time to not only unlock but search them."

"Sirius… you did check if there were actually people in the closets, didn't you?" Tara said suspiciously.

'Uh-oh…' Sirius thought. "of course I did! Who do you take me for, an idiot?" And with that he marched off smartly towards the common room. 'Nice comeback, Padfoot old…' "Oof!"

"ROTFL!" Tara said, before proceeding to do exactly that.

"Sari! Nice hiding spot!" Kay giggled before racing by. She was searching for the perfect spot, and Sari had one of the best.

"Thanks!" Sari whispered before waving her wand and stepping into the painting.

"Sari!" Came the quick greeting of one of the girls' friends. "You need a hiding spot, I'm guessing? C'mon, I found a new one! It's an old portrait up near the Divination Tower that's been completely abandoned… It has some cool cloth and paints, we can make you look like a witch directly from India!"

"I am from India, Dai!"

"I know that, silly goose!" The small girl giggled. "Now, quick, before…"

"Tara. We're playing Hide N Seek."

"Before Tara comes. Let's go!"

Sari passed through the paintings one by one, trying on outfits and laughing, Whenever somebody came by, she pretended she was right there with them. As they continued up towards the tower, Sari kept an eye out for the rest of the hiders. So far she had seen everybody- paintings and portraits were brilliant spying devices- except Lily and James. Where the bloody hell were they? She had basically turned the school upside down looking for them, and Tara must have also been having a difficult time. By now everybody had gathered in the common room, and Tara was increasingly frustrated with the three she hadn't found yet… until she looked up and straight at Sari.

"It's about time! You seen Lily and James?" Sari shook her head. "Must be off somewhere together… what if they're snogging? Get back to the common room, maybe we should just leave them alone. C'mon!" The two girls hurried back to the common room, devilish plans forming in their heads.

"Oi! No Lilsie or Prongsie? I'm bored!" Sirius called.

"NO, but I know how to find them… bets, anyone?" Tara responded with an evil grin.

'Lilsie and Prongsie,' as Sirius put them, were NOT, in fact, snogging. They were stuck. In a sarcophagus. In a broom cupboard. Somewhere, and not even they knew where, in the school. By the way, said sarcophagus was built for just one person.

"James? Do you think you could maybe move over a little, so I can try to unlock it?"

"Can't, Lily. I'm already squished as is. I swear, this thing keeps getting smaller! Don't you have your wand?"

"No…"

"Why not?"

"Cuz…"

"Lily!"

"It's in my dorm! Because… it just is! I kind of forgot about it, so you're just gonna have to deal. Don't you have yours?"

"No, Sirius confiscated it at the beginning of break. I tried to… It really doesn't matter. So, I guess we wait til Tara finds us."

"Yup."

"…"

"…"

"This is really boring." James said with a sigh. Lily nodded and laughed. "So… why'd you stay home for Christmas?"

"Because… because just what you said. I wanted to stay home."

"You know what I mean."

"Well, my sister, Petunia, is getting married. To a man named Vernon Dursley who is absolutely awful to her. He's going to be there for the break, and I recently had a… uncomfortable experience with him. I've been trying to get Tuney out of it, but she really hates me." Lily's eyes started to fill up. "And with my parents gone, I'd just be subject to taunting and slander and discomfort all break."

"Oh, Lilly I'm sorry… I shouldn't have brought it up. I just assumed you'd like to see your sister."

"No, it doesn't matter. I'm OK. Why did you stay here, at home?"

"Because my parents needed me too. They're going through tough times, both being Aurors, and my dad was recently sent out on a mission… and my mom thinks she might be pregnant." He mumbled the last words.

"Really? That's wonderful! Aren't you excited?" She asked warily.

"What? Oh… yeah, I guess. But I hope Dad makes it back from his mission. That's what they're worried about. See, Dad has no idea Mom's pregnant. He's been cut off from all communication. Mom's doesn't want me to sense all the tension, but I can tell."

"James, what…"

"There you two are!" Sari said. "Pay up, all of you!"

"You were betting on us? For what?"

"Well let's see…"

In the next few minutes, Lily and James learned the following-

Tara had bet that they would be snogging.

Sirius had bet… never mind, nobody would tell them what Sirius had bet.

Sari had bet they would be in some sort of intimate moment.

Kay had bet that they would be in a screaming match.

Remus had bet that they would be in an awkward silence.

Peter had no idea what the bloody hell was going on.

Sari claimed that they had been in an intimate enough moment and she called in the 100 galleons from everybody else (including Peter, who was being a dimwit).

"SO, what exactly were you doing?"

"Waiting for Tara to find us and we started talking." Lily said. James nodded.

That afternoon, as everybody layed around in the common room bored out of their minds, James and Lily struck their conversation back up again.

"James, exactly what mission was your dad sent on?"

"He was sent to be an undercover spy with Voldemort."

"You're not serious!"

"No, he isn't, but I am!" Sirius called from across the room and then returning to whatever he was doing at the time.

"I am, and he agreed, but only partially. He's not going to be in Voldemort's inner circle. He's going to be on the outer part, so that he's only assigned minor jobs, if any, and he'll retrieve information from somebody they already have planted in his inner circle. That's all he was allowed to tell us."

"James, I'm sure he'll be fine. How long has he been assigned to it?" Lily said quietly. "I mean, how long is he going to be doing that?"

"I have no idea, Lily. But I just want him to be done with it."

"I understand. I'm sure it's going to be fine. Many people have done it before and survived, haven't they?" But both they're faces were still doubtful.

**A/N: Sorry, this ones a little short. Please review, it makes my day! ALSO! I have a new oneshot up, if you are a fan of Zutara and Avatar! If you don't know what the heck I'm talking about, that's OK, just review! ;D**


	4. Oh, LILSIE!

**A/N: This chapter is short, but the next chapter will be up soon- probably just replacing this one. Reasons are at the bottom.**

The next few days flew by much too quickly, and it was a pleasant surprise to hear Christmas was only two days away. Everybody was excited for Christmas, but no excitement could rival the excitement of our very own Sirius Black. Sirius was currently at the very bottom of the scoreboard, while Lily and Sari were leading after a spectacular performance in Exploding Snap: Team Style. Today would be the day all that would change... in Sirius' mind. He was going to blow everybody out of the water in his favorite game ever. He was going to be so amazing, he would be able to claim his rightful spot as, what else, the very best.

"Please, please, pretty please with Fizzing Whizbees and a cherry on top!" Sirius begged Peter. Peter had decided to just be referee, after an unfortunate incident which comprised of flaming eyebrows and nuclear dungbombs.

"Don't ask me, Sirius, ask Lily or somebody." Peter whined.

"Gawd, Peter, you're so whiny. Chill." Sirius said, upset that Peter hadn't said yes. "Oh, LILSIE!"

"What do you want, Sirius." Lily groaned, pulling herself out of conversation with James. "What must I waste my time on now?"

"I get to decide the game today- pleeeeeeeeeeeeeease?" Sirius begged.

"Why?"

"You have to take pity on me- I'm the underdog!"

"HAVE to?"

"Lily, seriously, just give him what he wants. He'll bug the hell out of you otherwise."

"He's right, Lily!"  
"Fiiine. Just you have to set everything up, and we need the rules and a way to distribute points!"

"Yay!"

"So, Lily, we have an hour, and I was thinking…"

"NO."

"Yes, exactly what I was thinking." James said, meek in the face of her anger.

"I will be upstairs where no more Marauders can annoy me!" Lily darted off, leaving a mopey James and a delighted Sirius.

"So, you wanna help me out?"

"Nope, not getting involved."

**A/N: So this is put up especially for my little brother's b-day. Here's your riddle, Thomas!**

**The Ones of Legend**

**The Ones of Myth**

**The Ones of Diamond and Pearl**

**Come meet behind which you read now**

**The Armored One**

**Thanks for understanding, and Thomas, get a move on!**


	5. A Murder of Marci Proportions

**A/N: Sorry this took a while. I just got this sudden stroke of inspiration after a long writer's block and BAM! Here we are. Here's the chapter!** "AWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW PRONGS!"

"What." James said, unfazed by this loud outburst.

"She's got you whipped and you're not even dating!"

"EXCUSE ME?!?!?" James yelled, clearly upset by this sudden revelation. "I am not!"

"Yeah you are!"

"Uh-uh!"

"Uh-huh."

"UH-uh!" James said, sticking his tongue out.

"James, that's so childish." Lily said, coming back down the staircase and heading out the portrait hole.

"Sorry, Lily."

"Not whipped my ass." Sirius murmured, causing James to flare up again.

"Fine! I'll help you with your little game!"

"YAY!"

"And I'm NOT whipped!"

"Right."

"Laaaaaaaaaaaaadies and Gentlemen! Welcome to Monsieurs Padfoot and Prongs' fantabulous Spin The Bottle game!" Several groans came from the small group seated on pillows in a circle. James put his head in his hands, obviously still extremely upset with his so called best friend. "Prongs, please join me."

"Let's get this over with." James murmured, standing up next to Sirius. "The rules are that nobody can act gay or lesbo- we really don't want to see it, and we hope you don't want it to happen anyway."

"Also, everybody votes on who was the best kiss, and then those two will receive a point." Sirius added, giddy with excitement for the game. "Our lovely Lily may start with first spin." Lily groaned, taking the bottle and whacking Sirius on the head before spinning. Of course, it landed right on the person she had just whacked. Frowning, she leaned over and kissed him, before pulling back quickly and retching. "That was weak, Lily." Sirius said. She rolled her eyes and sat back, still retching slightly.

"Alright, chill Lily." Tara said. Sirius' spin landed on her. "Shit."

"Hypocrite."

"Can I respin?" asked Sirius. "Pleeeeeeeeeeeeease?"

"Fine, go ahead." Remus said, rolling his eyes. The bottle landed on Tara once again.

"Somebody's persistent."

"No, the bottle's persistent." Sirius hissed, respinning. Once again, it landed on Tara.

"That's it. Just kiss her, Sirius." Gritting his teeth, he leaned in and pulled Tara to him. She gave a small squeak, but relaxed into it slightly. "ALRIGHT." Remus said loudly, watching.

"Shut up, Remus." Sirius murmured, pulling Tara closer.

"We really don't…" Kay grabbed a hold of Tara and pulled. "TARA, WAKE UP." Tara stopped for a second and let out a small yelp, blushing furiously.

"Awwww! Tara's blushing!" said James. "Oh look! So is Sirius! Padfoot is blushing, Padfoot is blushing…" he sang off-key.

"Shut up. Here, Tara, spin." He said. Their hands brushed and Tara blushed again. Everyone laughed as she spun and landed on Peter. The rest of the game followed rather uneventfully, with random kisses. Sari and Remus' was quicker than Sari would have liked, but they were both blushing anyway.

"You're turn Lily!" Kay said excitedly. Lily looked at her strangely.

"Are you _high_?" She asked incredulously. "Why are you so excited?" Sirius shot Kay a death glare.

"No reason. No reason at all." Lily seemed to accept this, but she eyed her friend suspiciously as she spun. It landed on James. Both of them looked shocked.

"OOOO… mph." Said Sirius, but Tara had slammed a hand over his mouth.

"Um…"

"Do I…"

"Just kiss him already, Lily!" Kay said, exasperated.

Lily leaned in and quickly closed the gap between their mouths. All of their friends stared as James pulled Lily into his lap and deepened the kiss. "It's about damn time." Kay whispered to Sari, who giggled.

"I think the game's been won." She whispered back, grinning.

Risha Enervetta was very proud to be the best friend of Celestina Warbeck, thank you very much. She was also proud of how well she could get rumors and pass them on, and also was proud to be one of the top gossip queens in the school. It was after a particularly wonderful day full of gossip, drama, and good times that she entered the Gryffindor Common Room with her boyfriend, a Gryffindor sixth year- and a very good looking one, to say the least. As she cracked open the portrait hole she stepped in on a scene that had her gossip mind whirling. Lily Evans sat in the lap of James Potter, snogging their brains out, while their entire little group sat around them, grinning like Cheshire Cats.

"Matt, I'll meet you later- I just remembered that I had something planned with Celestina."

"Oh, um…" But Risha had already run out the door. As she raced towards the Ravenclaw Common Room, her only coherent thoughts were 'Lily… James… kissing… Potter… dating… Evans… OHMYGAWD…'

"What is…"

"Kissing!" Risha burst out.

"My dear, you have phenomenal guesswork. You may pass." Risha didn't even pay attention as she burs tinto the room and flew up the stairs into the dormitory she shared with Lucia, Celestina, and Linzi stayed in.

"Celestina! Oh my gawd you'll never guess who I walked in on snogging! Lily and James!" Risha said. "Oh… Lucia, you're here too?"

"Yeah, but don't worry I'm not going to tell anybody. It's about time they got together."

"Good, I think we should keep this a secret until we know for sure… Just because I know Marci has a huge crush on James and if Linzi or Marci found out about this, there would be trouble. They'd probably twist it to having something to do with Lily's parents' deaths."

"You're right. They're so sweet together!" Celestina squealed. None of the three friends had noticed the fourth girl standing in the doorway as they gossiped away happily on the cute 'couple,' who turned on her heel, smirking evilly, and headed straight for the Slytherin Common Room.

Back in our very own Gryffindor Common Room, our favorite couple was surfacing for air. Both blushing madly, but grinning, pulled away from each other and Lily headed back to her place in the circle.

"I think it's unanimous what the best kiss was." Sirius said, a little put-out, but happy for his best mate at the same time. "Now, I'm tired, and going to bed. Joining me, my dear Marauders?" The troupe of boys headed back up to their dorms, James still grinning like an idiot, while the girls dragged poor Lily upstairs.

"Lily!" The three girls turned towards the redhead, who flopped down on her couch.

"Kay! Tara! Sari!" Lily responded.

"Okay, spill." Sari said excitedly.

"You were there the whole time." Lily said.

"Nooooooooooo you idiot! Was he a good kisser?"

"Bloody fantastic." Lily murmured. The three girls squealed.

"Now you HAVE to tell him you like him, Lils!" Tara said knowledgeably.

"I don't HAVE to do anything, Tara!" Lily responded, though not really unkindly. "I don't know if I should."

"Why wouldn't you?" Kay asked, groaning and flopping on her bed as well.

"Because I'm nervous! What if he turns me down? What if that was just because of the game? Or heat of the moment? What if it ends up he really likes Marci? That would tear me to pieces!"

"But you'll never know if you don't tell him."

"I'll do it later."

Meanwhile, a still grinning James Potter was receiving a very interesting letter.

Dearest James,

I think we both know how much I like you. You are an extremely kind person and I would hate to see you hurt, so it pains me to write you this. But I would hate if you went through any extra pain if I didn't send you this. I heard that you and Lily fancy each other, and also that her parents recently died. I also picked up her speaking to another girl the other day of how she wanted you so badly she would do almost anything- even murder her own parents. She also told that friend that she had done just that, just for sympathy and for you to notice her. She also wanted revenge on her sister Petunia, who has not been the kindest person to her at all. I have also written Petunia because she must know of this predicament. Also know that she was planning to place a false trail such as 'So and So would twist it into me murdering my own parents' or something like that just in case you ever found out like this. Know that I will be here if you need me.

With sympathy,

Marci

'Marci?' he wondered. 'This couldn't possibly be true. Yet how did she know about Lily saying that she would twist it? She was at a different table, and Lily was mumbling so we could barely catch it. I need time to sort this out…'

So for the next few days, poor Lily, who had finally plucked up the courage to tell James how she felt, was being completely blown off by him with "Not now"s and "I'll see you later"s and altogether completely being ignored. She kept the feeling harbored, but one day she burst into the dorm with tears in her eyes.

"I can't take it any more!" She wailed, and threw herself into Tara's surprised arms.

"What is it, Lily? What's wrong?" Tara said, her best friend side kicking in. "You can tell me, it's okay."

"He's completely ignoring me!"  
"Calm, Lily. Who?"

"James!"

"Bastard. Want me to kick his ass for you?" Tara said jokingly.

"Actually, I would!" Lily replied, still crying.

"Oh, you poor thing. You were going to tell him, weren't you?" Lily nodded and was thrown into a fresh bout of tears. "Shh, shh. It'll be alright. I'm sure he's got a perfectly good reason. I'll be right back. You know what, come down. We'll fix this."

The pair headed down to the common room where James and Sirius were sitting. Lily's eyes were still red and tears were still falling. Horrified, James leapt up and pulled her into a hug. "What happened to her?" he mouthed to Tara.

"You. You've been ignoring her and it really hurt her, James." She whispered. A look of shock crossed his face. He leaned down and held her close.

"Lily, Lily, calm down, I didn't really believe you killed your parents to get with me. It's…"

"What the HELL gave you that idea? Is that really what you think of me?" She said, now officially pissed off.

"I got this…"

"Idea? Back off, you son of a gun. Leave me ALONE." She said nastily, running up to her dorm. He stared after her, gaping.

"What did you say to her?" Tara said, horrified- she hadn't heard. But she didn't stay to listen, instead racing off to her friend.

"Mate, she's right. What in the world would make her act like that?"

"I told her I didn't believe that she killed her parents to get together with me."

"Um…"

"Hold on… she didn't know about the letter, did she?" James said, now horrified as well.

"What letter?"

"I got a letter from Marci."

"That is NEVER a good sign."

"Marci! Marci, you prat, get over here!" James called out to the girl.

"What is it, James?" She asked, a look of innocence filling her eyes before James had her slammed up against the wall.

"Why would you send me such a LIE?" He waved the letter in her face. His face was now inches from hers, and his hands were on her shoulders, pinning her against the wall.

"It's the truth, James." All of a sudden, James heard a sudden gasp, before he saw a blur of red hair flying around a corner.

"Lily?"

"Think, James, from her point of view, it would look like we what?"

"Shit. Now she's gonna hate me forever!"

"I would never hate you forever, James."

"I don't want to deal with you right now. I want to sort things out with the girl I love- and it's all your fault I'm in this mess!"

"Aw, James I would never hurt you on purpose." Marci said, scared that her plan had gone awry.

"Stay away from me- and if I find you've been anywhere NEAR Lily I will not hesitate to make your life hell." And with that, James stormed off, leaving an angry and disgruntled Marci behind.

"JAMES POTTER!" Was James' greeting when he entered the common room after his spat with Marci.

"What?" He said, searching for the source of noise and coming face to face with a very angry Kay.

"First, you snog Lily's brains out. That is a GOOD thing. Then you ignore Lily. That is a BAD thing. THEN Lily sees you with MARCI. THAT is how you get Lily to HATE you. FOREVER. You complete IMBUSUL."

"I can explain Kay, please give me some time."

"You have 30 seconds. Go."

"AfterIkissedLilyIgotaletterfromMarcisayingthatLilykilledherparentstogetsympathyfrommeandshehadapointIcouldn'tignoreandsoIneededsometimetothinkthenLilywascryingsoIhuggedherandtoldherIdidn'treallybelievethatshemurderedherparentstogettogetherwithmeandshethoughtIcameupwiththatandgotangryandstormedoffandsoIconfrontedMarciandshesawustogetherandthinksweareacouplebutwe'reNOT."

"Right. So how do we put this right? Lily won't listen to a word of reason- well she WAS listening to reason and going to talk to you but then she saw you with Marci." Kay said.

"Wait a second… you understood everything I just said?"

"James, I can talk much faster than you just did. I just take breaths."

"Okay. Can I come up and talk to her? That way she can throw things at me and everything and maybe it will make her feel better!"

"Alright, but we'll have to take away both of your wands."

"Why mine?"

"Lily would be even angrier if you had your wand and she didn't have hers."

"Let's do this!"

"No."

"Sari, he's got a reason, please…"

"No."

"Sari, let me talk to her…"

"NO."

"But…"

"I said NO. She does not need any more pain! Now I suggest you leave NOW, _Potter_." James was stung by that comment. Only Lily had disliked him enough to call him by his surname.

"Sari…"

"Listen, Potter. You hurt her, you hurt me, you hurt Tara, and we thought you would hurt Kay. But now she's gone and sided with you. Now get out of my sight." The two scampered.

"Kay?"

"Yes?"

"Where are you going to sleep tonight?"

"In the common room."

**A/N: I like this chapter. :D PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE REVIEW! The next chapter will be up as soon as I get that ONE person to vote (and I finish it) If nobody votes, nobody gets the chapter. And PLEASE review! You have no idea how much they mean to little old me! The more encouragement, the faster I write… anybody with IDEAS, if you would pitch in a little that would be excellent.**


	6. Hold me!

**A/N: HIIIII! I'm reeeeeeeeeally hyper right now, so I should shut up and let you get along with the chappy! ;P**

Kay stretched sleepily and looked around the common room lazily. She watced with one eye open as Sari came downstairs, glanced at her, and left, only to return later with four plates of food. "Why do you have four of those?" Kay asked, her sleepiness showing.

"Are you coming?" Sari asked softly, before climbing the stairs and sliding into the room. Kay was quick to get up and follow.

"Kay?" said a tearful Lily as the girl poked her head in the door. "I need you here right now."  
"Alright, Lils." Kay said, striding across and hugging her best friend close to her. "Lily." She said, pulling back.

"Yes?"

"I need you to trust me."

"I trust you."

"Than I need you to come with me… without Sari or Tara." Lily pulled in a breath and looked at the other two, who shrugged it off, knowing that Lily and Kay were closer than close and that Kay wouldn't hurt her.

"Go Lily." Tara said, even though Sari looked like she was slightly worried about it.

"Alright. I trust you. Where?"

"Just trust me. Close your eyes." Kay scooped up the petite girl with ease and brought her out of the dorm. She strolled across the common room and headed up the boy's dormitory steps. The boys she wanted to reach were at the top, and about halfway up Lily asked if they were going to Trelawney's, or, as Lily called the new professor, the batty old fraud's. Kay just laughed and kept going. "I'm going to Muffliato you. You are only going to hear fuzzy noise, sorry."

"Alright."

"_Muffliato_." Lily's ears filled with white noise. "James? Wake up, you goon." The taller boy stretched and rolled over, landing on the floor.

"_Shit_. What are you doing… Lily?"

"She can't hear you, James. She's Muffliatoed." Kay handed Lily over to James, who held her tight against his chest. "James? Wait a sec, I dunno if she really wants to see you in your boxers."

"_SHIT_." He groaned, placing her on his bed and yanking on a shirt and some jeans before lifting her right back up. "Alright, undo the spell." Kay muttered the countercurse.

"Lily? Don't open your eyes!" Lily squeaked as her hand covered her face. "They closed?"

"Yes… Kay, who's holding me?" Lily panicked.

"You said, you'd trust me, right?"

"Yes."

"Then breathe… and then promise me you'll hear this person out."

"I promise." Lily said, and then after a second thought sucked in a huge breath. "Good?"

"Yes. Now promise you will not leap out of this person's arms OR hurt them in any way."

"As long as this person is not Snivellus, I promise I will not leap out of their arms or hurt them."

"Aw, she caught me." James joked. "Open your eyes, Lils."

"James?" Her eyes were wide. "Sorry, _Potter_." She hissed into his face. He closed his eyes so she wouldn't see the hurt in them, but she saw it anyway. Kay could've sworn she saw a look of guilt cross Lily's face.

However, James' eyes flew back open with a spark of anger. "Well, Evans, I was hoping you'd hear me out, but obviously you like stomping on my feelings more than me." he responded, trying to hand her back to Kay. When Kay refused, he moved to place Lily down on the floor.

"No." Kay said. "You will keep holding her until she hears you out and other restrictions. I've placed a charm. Now I'm going to wake up these three goons and leave you two alone. I expect to find you both alive when I come to check on you." Kay woke up the others and forced them out.

"She's scary." James said, but there was laughter in his voice.

"Yeah. Now start explaining." Lily demanded.

"Yes, ma'am. After the game, I was up here and got a letter. I'll show you the letter later if you need me too. Anyway, the letter basically said you murdered your parents to get sympathy so you could go out with me. It also spoke of when you said that Marci and Linzi would twist it into you murdered your parents- saying you might lead a false trail like that. I didn't think anybody overheard that, so I needed some time to think. I didn't think you would be upset. When I talked to you as you were crying, I automatically assumed you knew what I was avoiding you for. To explain Marci pushed up against a wall, I got very angry with her and shoved her into a wall. That's it. I'm not dating her, never will."

"I know you want me to all of a sudden forgive you, but that's not going to happen. We can go back to friends for now, but James, I'm disappointed you would even consider I did that. So right now, I'll be cold and indifferent most days, friendly a few- all depends." She smiled slightly at the ashamed look on his face."You should be ashamed, but you make mistakes all the time, so your next one should cover up this one. Hopefully you'll find a good way to fix this one."

"Hey! Isn't the phrase 'Everybody makes mistakes?'"

"Ew, sorry, not the biggest Hannah Montana fan. Miley Cyrus, alright, but Hannah Montana?"

"Lils?"

"What?"

"Who is Hannah Montana? God, that's got to be an awful name to grow up with."

"Never mind, you dunderhead." Lily sighed.

"Kay! Release the spell now!" Lily yelled as James carried her into the common room.

"You've forgiven him?"

"She hasn't forgiven me completely, seems to think I shouldn't've believed Marci either way."

"Well, she's right."

"I know."

"But I don't think he should put her down yet, what do you guys think?"

"I think absolutely not."

"Ditto!"

"Why, Tara? Sirius is a right foul git but I thought you were on my side!"

"I have my reasons."

Everybody else voted for Lily to stay in James' arms.

"Forgot! Here's your breakfast, Lily!" Sari handed Lily a plate of scrambled eggs and sausage.

"Thanks!" Lily dug in.

"What about meee!" whined James as he watched Lily eat with jealousy before snagging a piece of sausage.

"Thief!" Lily yelled, whacking him on the nose.

"Owww."

"Serves you right!"

"No it doesn't!"

"Uh-huh!"

"Nuh-uh!"

"Arrogant prick!"

"Know-it-all!"

"Self-centered git!"

"Son of a... wait you're a girl." The entire room exploded with laughter at the confused look on James' face.

"I win!" exclaimed Lily with a cheerful look on her face. She handed her plate to Sari and turned back to the group. "What do I have to do to have him put me down?"

"You'll see!" replied Kay. "So what do you guys wanna do?"

"Let's go to Hogsmeade!" said Sirius excitedly.

"WHAT?!?!"

And that was that. Within the next fifteen minutes, you could see a queer group of seven(Peter didn't want to come) strolling down the main street of Hogsmeade. One of the many questions this may spring is how they could do this without being recognized… Let's just say Lily Evans is one DAMN smart witch. Thank god, becaus eotherwise Kay would never have allowed James to let go of her.

One of the guys in the crew, a man with cropped black hair and a mustache, began to stroke his mustache like a scholar. "I do propose we go to Honeydukes… Race you, Prongs!"

"Padfoot!" Another black-haired boy who looked suspiciously like the first one's twin cried, tearing after him. They both were around 6'1, with blue eyes and, of course, cropped black hair. Only 'Padfoot' had a funny looking mustache… looks like the handiwork of Ms. Tara, but I will say no more. The others of the group consisted of a slightly shorter sandy-haired boy, who's hair was longer than the other two's and had a small goatee, an Indian girl who had a pixie-cut, a redhead who's startlingly green eyes seemed to be all you could look at, so describing the rest of her was nigh impossible, and identical twins with long black hair and blue streaks. As the group traveled down the street after the racing 'men,' looks were constantly cast their way- this was a group of incredibly beautiful people (looks like Lily couldn't help herself…)

"M'lady." Prongs said with a sweeping bow to the redhead before handing her a bouquet of sugar flowers. The redhead giggled before accepting them gladly and charming them so they would fit in her pocket.

"Oi! That was my idea!" Padfoot complained, whacking Prongs round about the head with his own bouquet of sugar flowers. "Hold on a sec…" he said to one of the twins before rushing off. "Here you are, ma'am."

"Padfoot?"

"Yeah?"

"Tiara's the other one."

"Damn."

"TIARA?"

"That's your-ahem-nickname."

"Who the HELL came up with TIARA?"

"Well, it's awfully close to your real name…" Padfoot said, hiding behind Prongs.

"Padfoot!"

"Here's your chocolate!"

"Ooooh, chocolate!"

"You guys, where's Indiana?"

Remus Lupin had loved Sari Rajesh for a long time. The way she smiled, the way her nose would crinkle every time she was frustrated, the way she would bite her lip when nervous, and every other little kink. He loved the way she talked, moved, and, though sounding for all the world like any other infatuated teenager, the way she made his world go round. Now he sat in McGonagall's office with all his friends, he realized his one true mistake was never telling her how much he loved her. But now she was gone, for who knows how long- maybe forever. He held his head in his hands, refusing to let the tears fall. Tears never obeyed anybody, though, and they fell anyway. He already missed her, even though she had been missing all of three hours. He allowed himself to fall into his brain, allowing the guilt and sadness swallow him. As he wallowed in his sadness, he only let one thought through- He had to save Sari Rajesh, even if it cost him his life.

**A/N: Yeah, it's a short chapter. However, I did accomplish what I wanted, seeing as if I continued my entire plan for the next chapter would fall apart! Hey, look how soon I updated! I'm so happy! I hope you guys don't mind the short chapter, and I hope you liked it! PLEASE review! I've had 238 visitors to this story and 8 reviews. Could you PLEASE review a little more? However, I loved every review! So thank you SO MUCH to lilyflower102, twihard-fanpire, Prongs is mine, loginsareoverrated (LOL you're so right), and lovefrog159! YOU ALL ROCK! :D**


	7. Wacky Neon Mary

**A/N: I don't know how long this chapter is going to be, seeing as the list of what I want to accomplish is very short…(it's a list in my head, at least) It's been a little while since I last updated, sorry! I hope this chapter doesn't disappoint!**

* * *

**M-**

**You said 'no contact.' Too bad. You are needed. Sari has been kidnapped.**

**-TMR**

* * *

**M-**

**Sari was kidnapped. It's now or never. Will you come back to us?**

**-TMR**

* * *

Mary collapsed onto the bright pink couch in her living room. This had to be the oddest living room anybody had ever set foot into. The whole room was neon. The walls were neon orange, and the furniture was a mixture of neon greens and pinks and blues. It would hurt most people to look at. Mary herself was a work of art. Her hair was up in spiky pigtails, streaked with neon green and pink. On the natural black hair, it stood out even more than usual. She wore black leggings with blinding green socks, and neon pink converse high tops. She wore a pink casual mini dress (that could honestly pass as a long, form-fitted shirt) with a white shirt underneath, and a black belt rested on her hips. Her lips were painted red, and her white eye shadow shimmered and sparkled. Not many people could pull of such a wacky look- but Mary looked simply fantastic in it.

However, while this whole mindset screamed happy and bubbly, for now there was a definite frown on the girl's face. The cause- the two letters in her hand from two siblings- that were two VERY different people. One of these was her childhood friend- who she could only pray was still her best friend. After all she'd put her four friends through, she was sure that they would reject her the moment they saw her again. She hoped this was proof they wouldn't.

The other letter was from the man she loved. He was handsome, charming, intelligent- everything she was looking for. Unfortunately, it seemed to Mary that she didn't know him anymore. "What the hell am I supposed to do?" she groaned aloud. "Neither of them should even know I'm alive, why are they sending me letters? On faith?"

She sprang to her feet and began to pace back and forth and back and forth. Of anybody, these two were supposed to have _no idea_ she was alive. They both should have thought she was dead and gone… but the one trait they shared, if any, was how infuriatingly stubborn they were. One of the reasons she had to disappear was to get out of the middle of the sibling rivalry. Unfortunately, here she was, dragged back into- wait. What? Her eyes scanned both the letters and she let out a very guilty "Shit! I am _the most_ self-centered person alive!" Apparently, Sari had been… kidnapped? Sari, the very girl who was there for Mary every step of the way, the friend she had been most unwilling to let go, kidnapped? Sari was the friend who had a smile for every frown, a tissue for every tear, and the all around nicest girl anybody could meet. Who… who would… nobody could _ever_… Mary shook with rage. _Nobody_ should even _consider _kidnapping Sari. It just _wasn't done_. She needed answers- and she needed answers _now_. And she had the perfect place to go.

* * *

"Molly! Coffee, on the double! Buggins! Fetch me my quill! Chang! Now is _not_ the time to be applying makeup, I don't _care_ what your boyfriend thinks, for Merlin's sake woman, TYPE! The due time for the Evening Prophet is in three hours, and I still have a main article to write! I DON'T NEED THIS HUBBUB! GET TO WORK! Oh my goodness, Mary, _darling_!"

"Hello, Rita? How have you been?"

"Marvelous, absolutely marvelous! You?"

"Fantastic." She replied. "Rita, I need to talk to you- it's a rather urgent matter."

"Anything for you, step into my office real quick, I'll be with you in a minute. I need to go grab a few owls and decide which one will be headlining tonight! Maybe I can get your input?"

"No problem!"

"Wonderful, be back in a minute!"

Mary took this time to gaze around Rita's office. It was an absolute tornado. Papers were everywhere, and four quills wrote on their own. Mary knew Rita had been begging for a Quick-Quotes Quill, but they were very expensive and highly unattainable. However, nobody would be surprised if she got one soon. The only thing was, Rita's lust for reporting and breaking stories upset many people, so the Ministry was hesitant to give up one of these most special quills from the archives. Other than the normal parchment and quills, stacks of photographic evidence (aka GOLD) and envelopes lay scattered. Rita even had a special place for Howlers, Mary noticed with a laugh, where the wood of the desk was burnt black and a space was cleared. Her nameplate was a nice mahogany with gold writing- but it was pushed off to the side to make way for the piles of writing and parchment.

"So, what is it you came for, Mary? OH, and do tell me how _are_ your friends? It's been absolute _ages_! I really miss that Lucia…"

"Rita, Sari has been kidnapped and I need the details ASAP! I had to come to you, because I really have no clue what to do, whether to return to Hogwarts- you know I'm on an extended leave. Have you got any word on the case?"

"Let me check… if I have it here I'll probably be writing it for the front page of the Evening Prophet… Ah, here we are 'Kidnap of Hogwarts student' that title will need some fixing up a little… Oh, dear, it _is _Sari! It says she was taken by Death Eaters. How _dreadful_! Here, read through this, it should have the details you need in it."

"Ms. Skeeter! Here is you coffee. You don't mind if I take an early leave? Betty is here early, and Charlie has come down with a nasty cold. Bill convinced him that playing without hats and jackets was so much more fun. Children! Hopefully Percy will have much better sense." The woman sighed with a roll of her eyes. She was dumpy, with red hair, and appeared dreadfully frazzled.

"Go right ahead, Molly!" The woman hurried out and Rita returned her focus to Mary. "She's a great helper- but the poor dear! Pregnant with twins- they'll be her 4th and 5th… but yes, Molly Weasley is a great worker. I think she may quit once the twins come along, and it will be a sad loss, but ah well! Have you read the information? Good. Any preferences on the story?"

"If it could be front page of the Evening Prophet, that would just be great. There's something else, if you could put it in…"

* * *

A few hours later, today's edition of the Evening Prophet was distributed, and hearts went out to the kidnapped 17 year old girl…

**KIDNAP AT HOGWARTS**

**By: Rita Skeeter**

**A rather tragic event occurred of late at the prestigious wizarding school, our very own Hogwarts. I'm sure many of you attended the school yourselves, and remember with fond memories the ghosts and secret passages, the classes and feasts. These memories are today being created still by the young generation, and for such an event to hit is a tarnish on those glittering memories. Earlier today, while out with a group of classmates at Hogsmeade, Sari Rajesh, 17, disappeared. Half an hour later, the Dark Mark appeared over an abandoned alleyway. While Aurors arrived on the scene, no clues were found, and the whole escapade is shrouded in mystery. Was it really Death Eaters who took her? Why would some body want to take such a student? One of the victim's friends, Mary Ivigno, who will be returning to Hogwarts immediately from extended leave, leaves us with the following "Sari is the kind of girl who would do anything for her friends, and we will do anything for her. Whoever has taken her has made a fierce enemy out of not only myself but all of her other friends." We can only pray Ms. Rajesh will return safely- and soon.**

* * *

"Mary…" whispered Tara.

* * *

**A/N: Well, that was a little longer than I anticipated! Who can guess who the two notes are from? It will be cool to hear guesses! While a little too short for my liking, I like this chapter! Please review! They are really, truly, inspiring! Luv yas! UNFORTUNATELY all the cool fonts were taken away. NOT cool. Hope you still like it, though! Luv yas! I said that twice didn't I...**


	8. Emeralds to the finest degree

**A/N: Alright, school started, and I have another story I'm working on that I adopted even before this one was thought of that I'm working on, so updates are going to be rare. SORRY! I still luv this story! I got more to say later, but read first.**

"LIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIILY!!!!!" Tara screamed. "KAAAAAAAAYYYY!!!!!!!! GET UP! OMIGAWD! GET UP!"

"Waddayawant…" mumbled a very disgruntled Kay. Lily had opted for the 'pull pillow over head like that's gonna help' method. It failed.

"GET UP!" Tara screeched like some overgrown owl. "GET THE HELL UP! GET UP!" by this time, the two girls were kind of freaking out. Had Tara gone insane or something? However, the moment she began to threaten having a serious talk with James about how much Lily was in love with him if the two girls didn't get up, Lily had joined her in screeching at Kay.

"KAY! DO YOU WANT ME DEAD? GET UP!" Finally, with a very long, loud groan, Kay got out of the bed and began rummaging through the drawers for something to wear.

"We've been completely neglecting our clothes." she said matter-of-factly, and the three girls simply shrugged it off.

"I'll meet you guys down there. It's important. Go with the dark-wash skinnys, Lily. They look fantastic on you." Lily nodded, tugging on the jeans heading out the door after Tara, pausing only to turn around and run a critical eye down the two tops Kay was holding up and wordlessly pointing to the one on the left. After she made her exit, Kay was left alone in the room, eyeing the bed, as if thinking of going back to sleep when an owl swooped in. There were 5 words. 'Don't even think about it.' Kay cringed and rushed out the door.

When she reached the bottom step, she remembered why Tara must have been so excited. It was Christmas! Christmas! Kay sprinted across the common room to the fireplace, where the four girls usually opened their presents. 'Three girls, this time' Kay thought sadly. 'Maybe the boys will join us. Then we'll be 7… not too bad.' However, when Kay reached the cluster of furniture, she became the 8th person to sit down. Who was that? In that chair? Could it…

"Kay!" came the enthusiastic shout of Mary. "I haven't seen you in forever! How are you? Surprised to see me? You never were one to read the Evening Prophet, were you?"

"You left us." Kay said coldly. Mary immediately sombered.

"I-I know. And I shouldn't have. Please forgive me, Kay. I-I thought I had a g-good reason and n-now, when I r-repeat my argument… it seems so… so… weak." Mary's eyes were filled with tears. "I th-thought that if… if I l-left, everything- EVERYTHING, Kay, would s-st-stop. I was so stupid! He kidnapped her! It's all my fault, all my fault!" And with that, she began to cry in earnest. When her tears finally ended, her eyes traveled around the group. "I had to come back and help. Don't you see? I could've stopped this… I feel awful."

"Mare- it's not your fault." Kay's tone had softened and she walked over to her friend. "We'll all help. We'll get her back, you'll see.

"Thanks Kay. And Tara… your letter changed everything. I got one from him too… I was so foolish to think he ever loved me. He never did. He used me, and you guys tried to warn me. I'm positive that taking Sari was to get me to come back, but Tom went too far."

"We know, Mary." James said, intervening. "Love makes people- even the most brilliant of people- do stupid things. I know. We all know. But we're still your friends, no matter what. So what have you been doing?"

"I have this great flat- its floo is connected straight to the Head dorms, do you guys use yours during the school year?" James and Lily nodded. "I'll show you all. The Head dorms are the only way to get in or out, unless you're me. Professor Dumbledore was such a big help. If you guys had ever stepped in the floo and said 'Mary,' you'd end up in my flat. I was hoping you wouldn't… and you didn't. It's a great place, I designed it all myself. I guess Professor Dumbledore got a hold on my sketches and made the place for me. So when I told him I wanted to hide from it all, he simply nodded and took me there. I love it!" Mary finished, beaming. "I think we should open gifts now. I have one for all of you."

The group dug into their respective piles, while Mary sat back, watching. There were exclaims of delight and many hugs, as each person drilled through their piles. However, at the end of it all, nobody was extremely excited about Christmas. Without Sari, it seemed so forlorn, and her pile of presents seemed to be a constant reminder of the missing girl.

"Lily, you have another one!" Mary said, pointing to a small package behind the tree. Sirius interrupted her, however, and Lily didn't hear.

"Let's go eat!" He exclaimed.

"YES. Eat. Now." James said quickly, sprinting to the portrait door and holding it open. "Ladies first? Sirius?" Sirius scowled.

"Real funny." He ducked out the door, followed by the rest of the Marauders, as well as Kay and Tara.

"Lily! Wait." Mary called. "You have another present, see?" She held up the small one. "It was behind the tree." Lily took the present and gently pulled off the wrapper. Inside was a small blue velvet box, which Lily pried open.

"Oh…" Inside was the most beautiful necklace the girls had ever seen. It was an almost rope of small diamonds with small emeralds at infrequent intervals. At the end was two more small emeralds with a larger square one, followed by a diamond, a small heart one, a diamond, and an upside down teardrop. A note fell from the box. _'Nothing can match your beauty, but let this be a reminder of me. _Love_.'_

"Love who?" Mary said, frustrated.

"I don't know. Help me put it on, Mary." The other girl fastened it around her neck, and the two headed downstairs to breakfast, laughing as if they had never parted.

**Alright, it's reeeeally short, but kind of just what I wanted at the same time. The chapters will get longer; I promise. Please review… they're the one things that keep me going when I'm sort of stuck (like now), but don't worry I'm not too stuck just stuck enough to be frustrated.**


	9. A Speech to Shake the Death Eaters

**A/N: Chapter 9! Eeeee! My friend sprained her ankle in gym today D: but it ok! Some strange things happened at my skool this week… **

As Mary and Lily made their way down to breakfast, laughing, chatting, and just catching up, a pair of eyes followed their every step. "Lucius, I have a little _job_ for you. Get the prisoner up here. _Immediately_."

"Yes, Master." Lucius Malfoy replied, smirking as he hurried down the steps into the dungeons of his newly inherited house. "Filthy trash befouling them, anyways. Can't wait to see her dead. Or _better_." He murmured, cackling to himself.

"Who's there?" Came a small frightened voice. "Go away! My friends are going to rescue me- they'll make you all pay!"

"_Silencio_! Idiotic girl. How dare you speak to a pureblood that way! You mangy half-blood. Hold your tongue!" Lucius was snarling, and the look on the girl's face was petrified, but still quite defiant. She began to gesture at him, forming unrecognizable shapes with her hands. "Stop your crazy signing language." Sari smirked. "My master wishes to see you now." He grabbed the girl by the arm, holding it as if it were a piece of rather nasty smelling squirrel poo.

Her eyes were wide as he dragged her up the steps and through the final door. This door led to an ornate living room, with antiques here and there and the oldest books Sari had ever seen. The entire room was green and silver, and when Sari was dragged through, the door behind her disappeared. A lush green couch spread it's way three-quarters of the way around the room. At the very middle of the couch were three raised seats- one in the middle, the highest, where a face as recognizable as Mary, her missing in action best friend. The rugs were intricate patterns of weaving silver, and green banners with silver snakes were hung throughout the room. The queerest thing about this room however, was the fact that it had no walls, ceiling, or floor. Everything floated in midair. The middle chair man eyed her, smirking. "Ah, I see you have joined as, Ms. Rajesh. Do not be afraid, you need not be hurt as long as you give us certain information."

"I wouldn't tell you anything, _Tom_. You broke my best friend's heart, remember? I wouldn't even tell you what I had for breakfast this morning, and I'm guessing your highly prized _information_ will have to come from a different source."

"Ah, don't be so sure."

"You do know that _you _are the main reason everybody hates Slytherin. To think people in my year used to want to be in it as much as Gryffindor! But _you _decoded to muss it all up. You befouled the name of Slytherin, and have disgraced your family, school, and Salazar Slytherin himself. You, Tom Riddle, wish to rid this world of all but pure blood. I'm guessing you'll be the first to go?"

"Ha. Ha. My blood is nothing but pure."

"Oh, _sure _it is. I mean, it _has_ to be, seeing as your father was a muggle and all."

"I-"

"Shut your mouth! Admit it, you _are _a half-blood. You were raised in an orphanage as well- there's no saying you aren't a muggleborn either!"

"How _dare_ you…"

"Tell the truth? Oh, I forgot, here we only tell lies. Here, you are a pureblood. Here, you have a heart. Here, you aren't Tom Riddle. Here, you are Mr. Merciful Lord." Sari placed her hands together as if in prayer and looked up innocently, the picture perfect angel. A couple Death Eaters in the room sniggered.

"Stop this nonsense at once! If we are to bring down the muggles and take our rightful pace, then _nobody _must question my authority! Any more sniggering, and every person in this room _dies_."

"Ooh, look at Monsieur Merciful now. I'm sure he can murder every person in this room when all 50 of them are full-blown wizards. Look, Tom, you would amount to nothing if you didn't have these followers. Lucius Malfoy, young heir, pureblood, and rich as hell. Without him, you'd be a wreck. Augustus Rookwood, another pureblood, spy in the Department of Mysteries. Without him, how would you have got here today? You are jealous of every person in this room simply because of their blood. I bet you one thing, if you put a pureblood, half-blood, and muggleborn in one room, you wouldn't be able to tell which is which. So while these people spy _for you_, lie _for you_, and risk their lives _for you_- you spy on them, lie to them, and murder them. How MERCIFUL is that?" Many of the Death Eaters began to murmur among themselves. Some were even starting to nod along, while one even Disapparated away.

"Traitors. I am your one hope. I am your Lord. I am the only one that can draw you from this world where we are hiding. Why must we hide? We are the true royalty."

"Not you!" Sari interjected.

"Yes, me. This girl simply means to cause a stir."

"Do you see Tom Riddle on any pureblood tapestry? I don't think so!"

"Hold you tongue, you awful girl!"

"Stop the lies! Stop the manslaughter! If you fight fire with fire, all you're going to get is more fire! At least try fighting fire with water. Much more efficient."

"What do you mean of these words? You mean to divide and conquer with these empty words."

"No, while I'm not for your cause, I think you should learn how to think, Riddle. To every person you are a complete enigma, and yet you know every person's secrets. If you were a true leader, you would fight alongside them, you would feel their pain. But you don't. You only create strife and slander. While my words may seem like just pretty words, they have meaning. Your words are pretty, gift boxes wrapped up with little bows. But when it gets time to open presents, nobody can find anything in the box."

"_Crucio_! Ignorant girl! _Crucio, Crucio, Crucio_! You mean nothing! You are nothing! _Crucio_!" Eventually his screams let up, and the pain subsided from Sari and she lay there panting.

"You can deliver nothing but pain and death. You will never amount to anything more than a criminal and murderer. You are a kidnapper, a robber, and a burglar of souls. You are not, and never will be, a human fit to live- or a creature fit to live. You will always be _nothing_."

"Take her back down to the dungeons, Lucius. I have an owl to send."

Meanwhile, the Mauraders & Co. were all seated in the Great Hall, enjoying Christmas Breakfast. Mary and Lily had just arrived, and all the girls were fawning over Lily's necklace.

"Who do you think sent it?" Kay murmured as she held the emeralds close to the light.

"Some rich guy." Snorted Tara. "It is pretty though."

"What do you mean some rich guy?" Mary said. "It might not be… obviously the person loves Lily."

"And what makes you conclude _that_?"

"It said 'Love,' idiot." Kay said, rolling her eyes.

"Chill, guys. I'm sure they'll reveal themselves sooner or later."

On the other side of the table, a similar conversation was going on.

"_Damn_, that thing looks expensive. Who do you think could have sent it?" Sirius whispered to Remus.

"I dunno. But James has some competition." Both boys glanced over at their best friend, who was eating like nothing had happened.

"What if _he _sent it?"

"Um…"

"Never mind. He would totally tell me."

"Of course he would." Remus muttered under his breath, his mind whirling. "So why didn't he?"

**The 'games' are not gonna show up for a few chapters, cuz Sari's gone. But dontcha worry they'll be back. My chapters are starting to get a little longer- they'll keep going. And turns out my teacher is **_**really**_** funny- even if she can be extrememly strict at times. So conflicted…**


	10. Facebook Bets

**A/N: HELLO? ARE THERE PEOPLE READING THIS? CUZ IT SURE DON'T SEEM LIKE IT! I got NO reviews last chapter. Zip. Zilch. I was so sad. D: PLEASE PLEASE REVIEW! While this story will be continued becuz I love it, reviews mean a lot to me! Thank you. Sorry this took so long! School, no motivation, STUPID ESSAYS. They are the evil of the world. **

There will always be questions that you can't answer. People will often do things nobody expected and nobody can figure out. But if Remus knew one thing, it was that everything happened for a reason. He was made a werewolf for a reason. Sari had been taken for a reason. And James had kept Lily's necklace a secret from everybody for a reason. If Remus knew another thing, too, it was that James and Sirius had never, ever, in the history of forever, kept a secret from one another. They also read each other like the girls do- meaning, in about five and a half seconds without so much as a glance. So, why had James kept the necklace a secret from Sirius and why couldn't Sirius been able to tell? Remus sighed. Sometimes life made no sense. His thoughts wandered to Sari. He missed her so much. She was a light that kept his darkness at bay, and with her gone, all his depressing thoughts came slinking back. What if she never came back? What if she never knew he loved her? What if she was tortured so badly she couldn't remember him or anybody else? Thousands of scenarios flashed before his eyes and an overwhelming sense of horror crossed him. But he couldn't worry about her forever, thanks to his constantly butting into business friends (though at that moment he was rather glad about it).

"Oi, Remus, what's got you so gloomy?" Sirius said, poking his friend in the shoulder. "Remus is a gloomy werewolf, gloomy werewolf, gloomy werewolf. Wonder what got him down. It COULDN'T be because his truey lovey has been kidnapped and locked up by Tommy Boy!"

"Aw, shut it, Padfoot. Imagine if they took Tara." James said, rolling his eyes and sitting in the chair next to Remus.

"The world would be a better place."

"I'm sure that would be your _real_ reaction." James snorted.

"At least they didn't take Lily. You would've gone absolutely insane… and probably gone after her, getting killed in the process."

"I agree… but replace killed with saving her and having her screech at you about how you could've gotten killed."

"I can't believe you'd say that, Remus! I never knew you had it in you!" Sirius grinned and clapped a glowering James on the back. "Now, I must really go. Homework and such. To the library!" He skipped off, leaving two gaping guys behind him.

"Tara, it's really rather brilliant." Lily acknowledged. Kay, Tara and Lily were sprawled on Lily and Kay's beds, pushed together, and James and Remus were leaning in the doorway.

"No. It's stupid and proves nothing to nobody."

"You just think you're going to get hurt, Tara." James said. "I know him better than anyone."

"No! I don't even care!"

"Tara…"

"What? Stop with the stupid sympathetic Tara…! It's stupid! And I'm hungry, and when I get back NOBODY will mention this!" Tara stormed out, leaving behind two frightened guys and two knowledgeable girls.

"PMSing, don't worry bout it!" The other two headed out after her.

"Wait… Lily! What's that! Hello?" James yelled, now even more frustrated than before.

"James… You're such an idiot."

"Why thank you… Hey!" But Remus was leaving as well. "Guys!" he whined, before trailing after them in an excellent imitation of Peter.

"James!"

"Sirius!"

"James!"

"Sirius!"

"James!"

"Si—"

"Anyway, I didn't really go to the library."

"That's a shocker."

"Aw, shuddup. What I really did was find Lucia. She told me about this uber-awesome Muggle invention."

"Which is…?"

"Facebook!"

"…meaning?"

"It's a social networking site."

"Big words! Big words! Sirius saying big words!"

"Shuddup! Anyway. It's fun! We're all gonna get them."

"Hm, lemme think… no!"

"What if I make you a bet."

"Okay…"

"I bet you that Lily will fall for you by the end of the year."

"No way. You're on."

"Okay. Rules! You just act normally, like the bet doesn't exist. If I am right, and Lily falls in love with you, two things happen; we all get facebooks, and the theme for your wedding will be Pinky Pinkiness, with me as the best man."

"I agree, except our wedding theme will NOT be Pinky Pinkiness."

"Fine! Be that way."

"You have to act normal too!"

"But I get to be your first child's godfather!"

"Deal!" James exclaimed, and they shook on it. "You'll see. She'll never like me like that, not after everything. We were just supposed to be friends, I guess." He concluded sadly.

"Don't give up! Padfoot is always right!"

This time the owl was a deep, jet black. 'He never gives up, does he?' thought Mary, rolling her eyes.

Mary-

Your little friend made a rather excellent speech yesterday. It turned a few of my successful friends' heads, but it also cut her time left in half. You know what I want. Get it to me, and you will be rewarded and your friend will make it out of here alive.

-TMR

Mary glared at the piece of paper for a few moments. He had no idea what he had wrought. He had no idea that this one letter, these few useless words that were meant to frighten, had just dramatically changed the course of history. There is a reason why Mary was hidden from the world in the beginning. A new power had been unleashed and was pushing to change the world.

**A/N: Heehee. I like that ending. Okay, the middle will be explained, and obviously so will the ending. Those last few sentences COMPLETELY changed how I thought this story would end. Seriously though, REVIEW. Like it? Simply write 'good'! Don't like it? Write 'didn't like it'! It's not hard, and I really would like just one review. And don't think Oh, somebody else will give the review, because as far as I can see, nobody will! I got reviews from earlier chapters, why not these? I know you probably read this everyday, and if you also write, you should know how I feel about reviews! I admit, I don't review everything I read. But I try to review as much as I can! Please?**


	11. Guhhastlee Guhherkeen

**A/N: Yola! Sorry for the slight delay! I was hoping to get one up sooner, but I'm kinda tied up… with my stupid teeth. They were extracting two teeth yesterday, and it KILLED, and it doesn't normally. Then I found out that once they got the tooth out, they had to dig out the roots. The second tooth is going for oral surgery tomorrow and I'm scared. I've never had any kind of surgery before. Alright, enough about my messed up mouth.**

"James!" Lily yelled. "Hey! You! Blockhead!"

"Whaaaaaaaaaaaaat?"

"Oh. Fine. Never mind."

"No, wait, Lily… I'm sorry. What did you want to say?"

"Well, Tara has agreed, and Mary has decided to go back to her flat for a few days so it's just me, you, Kay, and Sirius for a while. Where's Peter been?"

"Nobody has any real idea. I think he went home for the holidays all of a sudden."

"Oh. Alright then."

"Hey, Lily, about…"

"Just forget about it. It'll be like completely starting over, okay?" she said anxiously, hoping he would agree.

"Yeah. Starting all over. So! Send Tara to the statue of the humpback one-eyed witch. Have her say Dissendium, and somebody will be waiting on the other side for her. Okay?"

"Got it. So, how's your mum?"

"She's fine, I guess. Still worried about Dad, but Dad's strong. I'm sure he'll be okay." The way he said it made Lily wonder if he was saying it to convince himself rather than her, but she shrugged it off. "Hey, Lily, will you come to the library with me? I really need help on that essay from Slughorn about the Ghastly Gherkin. I don't even know what a gherkin is."

"Don't worry, I'll help, let's go." She responding, laughing as he struggled to pronounce 'gherkin.' "And it's gur-kin, not guh-her-keen."

"Whatever."

The two slowly meandered up to the library, without realizing the pair of eyes that watched them the whole way up. You see, Marci was not a giver-upper. She knew that Lily and James belonged together, but she DID. NOT. CARE. So if you would kindly stop mentioning that little hurdle, she would be extremely happy.

"Wow. They really belong together, don't they?" A passer-by said to her friend, who giggled.

"Yeah. Like true love much?"

"I heard she's a little skeptical though."

"SHUT UP!" Marzi flew out from her hiding spot. "I. DON'T. CARE. It doesn't matter if they belong together! I will marry him, not HER. SO shut up!" She ran off.

"Wow. She really needs help, doesn't she?"

"Yeah. Like obsessed much?"

"No! James, cut it out!" Lily giggled.

"But I don't get it!" he whined. "I can call it a guh-her-keen if I want!"

"Fine, but don't title your page GUH-HAST-LEE GUH-HER-KEEN!" She said, falling into fits of laughter. James just pouted.

"But the new professor can take a joke!"

"Not when it's on your biggest grade of the semester!"

"Oh, shut up."

"Look, here. Simply transfer this portion into your own words, and you'll be halfway done. This really shouldn't take that long!"

"Ahem. The guh-hast-lee guh-her-keen grows in…" Marci's anger escalated as she watched the… _thing_… dissolve into fits of laughter. James was creating the perfect image of concentration. "This causes the guh-hast-lee guh-her-keen…"

"James!" Lily said, surfacing from laughter.

"Whaaaaaat? With it's relation to a cucumber, the guh-hast-lee…"

"Seriously!"

"Hey! Has he come to help, too?" Lily whacked him with a book. "Okay! Okay, chill! I'm going, I'm going."

Marci watched this little exchange with sadness in her heart. REWIND. No, Marci, doesn't KNOW sadness. Le duh! She watched with all the intent of hurting the little bitch. And she would. Oh, she would.

**A/N: OKAY, so I thought that I needed a little more Lily/James, so I showed Marci is STILL IN THE PICTURE. Jeez. This story is just circles within circles, and I have to tie up all the loose ends before the end, and I just went and **


	12. Tara's escape!

**A/N: Enjoy!**

Unknown to Lily, James, and Marci, another pair of eyes had watched the scene in the library. This other pair also now watched the two talking and laughing in the common room. She climbed to her feet and sighed, taking the steps to the girls' dormitory two at a time. She ducked past Tara's curtain and climbed behind another hidden behind it. Here was yet another extravagant bedroom. A coal black printing press sat in the corner, charmed so that multi-colored papers flew out evenly, stacked and binded themselves together before heading over to a pile in the corner. Mary scooped up the top one and climbed up the latter to her loft bed. She pushed aside the many stuffed animals before plopping herself down and looking at the front cover. Emblazoned across the top in flashy gold writing was _Inside The Gryffindor Dorm_. It was Mary's turn to contribute to the friend's industry, and this was the best way she knew how. She flipped through, nodded in appreciation, and flung it back to the pile.

"Mary?" Lily's voice called. "Is that you?"

Ah, Lily. Mary's sweet best friend that was infinitely better than Mary herself. Of course, none of the other girls thought so. They were all infinitely better than her. She sighed before calling out. "Behind Tara's curtains! C'mere, I wanna show you something!"

"What?" Lily's head popped out, and she grinned up at Mary. "Hey, I thought you went back to your flat!"

"I'm leaving in an hour. Check those out." She pointed to the pile. Lily went over and scooped one up. As she read through, Mary began to consider her friend. There was something about her that stirred up a feeling… a bad one. 'Get a hold of yourself!' she chastised herself. 'You've been friends with Lily forever!'

"Mare? You OK?"

"What? Yeah, fine." Mary grinned. "Watcha think?"

"I love it! I didn't know you could write!"

"Kinda what I did when I was cooped up by myself." Mary explained. "It was boring, so I wrote a few stories of what I wish my life was like. Rita Skeeter told me I had to get into the reporting business."

"Rita? The girl who never could keep her mouth shut?"

"Yeah, but, ya know, she really isn't that bad of a person. I'd say reporting's going to her head."

"I guess. How is she?"

"Good. I saw her the day before I came back. She says hi."

"Oh. Cool." There were a couple moments of awkward silence. Mary jumped down and stretched.

"Well, I really ought to get going. To mah flat!" She pointed at the door and began to march.

"What? Oh, sure. See you, then." Lily said, laughing.

"See you." Mary strode confidently out, leaving Lily standing there with a magazine in her hand. She threw it back on the pile and also exited, flopping down on her own bed and pulling out a book.

"Remus, have you seen Tara?" Sirius asked. "I haven't seen her yet today."

"Chill, mate, just because you haven't seen her all day doesn't mean Voldemort's got her or something." Remus stood and walked away, smirking at the terrified expression on Sirius' face.

"James! Where's Tara?"

"How should I know? Are you okay? You look a little scared, mate." But Sirius had already taken off.

"KAY! I need you to tell me where Tara is!"

"Sirius, it's okay, I'm sure she's fine. I haven't seen her yet today though." Kay grinned as Sirius sprinted away.

"Lily, Lily! Lily-flower, Lilykins!"

"What do you _want_?!"

"I know I haven't been the nicest person to you, but please, you have to help me!"

"Seriously. Who died?"

"Tara!"

"Tara's _dead_?" Lily said, eyebrows raised.

"Well, no, at least, I don't think so." Sirius furrowed his brow. "Oh Merlin, she could be dead!"

"Sirius, Tara isn't dead."

"Then where is she?"

"I don't know, I'm not her babysitter. You need to calm down. It's not like Voldemort whisked her away to go hang with Sari." She laughed, and as she walked away, Sirius gaped at her before sprinting off to the headmaster's office.

"Dumbledore! You have to help! Tara's been whisked away by Voldemort!"

"My dear boy, do you have any evidence of her with Voldemort."

"Er… no…"

"Than what makes you say such things?"

"Well, nobody's seen her today, so I kinda thought…'

"Mr. Black, it really isn't a good idea to assume a girl has been taken by Voldemort."

"Well, no. Whatever. She'll turn up tomorrow." He left the office wondering why exactly he was so worked up by Tara's disappearance.

"Oh, that was priceless!" The friends cackled as they watched Sirius walk out of the headmaster's office.

"He actually went to the headmaster!"

"We have blackmail! Yes!"

"James!" Lily said, shocked.

"Sirius is always blackmailing us. You should see how much chocolate he has just from blackmailing me and Remus. It's sad."

"But still…"

"Aw, Lil, don't ruin their fun." Kay grinned. "Now we can tease Tara as relentlessly as she teased you about—"

"Shut up, Kay!" Lily slapped a hand over her best friend's mouth.

"Who?" James said. "Who'd she tease you about Lily? Or what?"

"Nobody! Nothing!"

"Uh-huh. Sure. Tell me!"

"Never! It doesn't even exist!"

"But Liiiiiiily!"

"But Jaaaaaaaaaames!"

"Aw, shut it." The group laughed.

Tara slid into the one-eyed witch's hunched back. Somebody was supposed to meet her here. "_Lumos!_" She help the light up high to light the entire path. Slowly she strode along, jumping at little noises and the like. Even with the strong façade she put on, anybody would jump at scratching noises in a dark tunnel. Presently she reached a set of stairs and began to climb. Her head knocked on a wooden trap door, and she pushed it open. She was in some kind of basement, and a sweet aroma came from another set of stairs and trap door, which she also pushed open. Honeydukes!

"Tara!"

**A/N: Alright! Another chapter done. This one's for lily-james-forevs, I got I up quick as I could!**


	13. Cissy

**A/N: I haven't updated in a while! Okay, hope you like it! XD**

"Mika!" Tara's eyes widened before she sprinted into her twin sister's (in everything but blood) arms.

"I haven't seen you since the summer! I thought maybe you'd be down for Christmas but your parents said you decided to stay with your friends for your last year, so I decided to come see you. I wanted it to be a surprise, so I owled your friend what's-her-name, Lily, and she just told me to come down as fast as I could and owl her the moment I got here. The Ministry had to approve and everything, it was such a mess!" Mika still talked faster than anyone else Tara knew. "So I owl her and she says you've been planning to do something for a while- freak out this guy that she thinks totally belongs with you, I so have to meet him- and I just had to help! We're staying at the Three Broomsticks for a few days, I've got a room booked and everything! Your stuff is already there. C'mon, I'll explain more when we get there."

Tara gaped at her friend for a moment before shrugging and continuing to listen to her chatter about anything and everything, from just how _darling_ Madam Rosmerta was to her new job down at the old ice-cream store with this really cute guy.

"Tara, Mika! Can I get you anything?"

"No, thank you, Madam Rosmerta. We're heading straight on up! We'll come down later!" Mika shot out, waving as she disappeared up the stairs. She and Tara were so different from one another- yet they clicked perfectly.

"So, Tara, tell me about this guy. I never pictured you with a serious guy! I more imagined him as a fun-loving troublemaker!" Tara laughed.

"Oh, Mika, his name is Sirius, he's definitely not serious! He's exactly that- fun-loving, a troublemaker, yet a total dick. I just don't get him sometimes! It's driving me crazy! I mean, he could have any girl he wants, ever, and he basically is just so mean sometimes and I'm so sick of it! But he's just _adorable _and funny and oh my god! Every girl he wants he could get, so I have the same feeling as Lily. That he only wants me because I won't let him have me! I won't- I won't let him win. Hell no. But I won't tell anyone ever. I keep telling them that I'm over him and I don't want to be! I want him to ride in on a white horse and just damn ask me out already! I could have sworn he and I were friends, but the next day I'm almost in tears because of something he just said! Oh, Mika, I don't know what to do! I think I'm totally falling for him, so I try and cover it up by liking other people and dating others but it always just goes back to him! I HATE him! But… but…" And with that, Tara burst into tears.

"Oh, _Tara_!"

"Mika… I don't feel like me anymore, he affects me that much!"

"Tara. Listen to me. You are you and you always will be! Some guy won't change that. Tara, you need to learn to speak to people about this! I'm sure Lily would listen to you vent. You shouldn't bottle your feelings up like this. You get all stressed and upset! Obviously, he likes you. We're gonna get proof! If he gets all worked up about you leaving, he obviously cares. Let's just wait and see how much he cares! Now. I brought Monopoly. MONOPOLY MARATHONIAN!" Tara grinned at the reference to their childhood rainy day activities.

"I call the dog!"

"Hey! No fair!" Mika pouted good-naturedly, and when Tara turned away she grinned at how her friend was cheering up. "Oh, and Tara?"

"Yeah?"

"Do you think you could lighten up on the heavy language now? No swearing very sentence!"

"Yeah, okay." Tara grinned and held out the dog. "Mine!"

"Excuse me? Ehm… Ms. Rajesh? Are you here?"

"Who is that? Leave me be!"

"Please, please be quiet! I don't want to be heard. Here, I brought this for you." A blonde woman poked her head into the light. A loaf of bread and a thermos of water were in her hand.

"Oh… thank you."

"I'm sorry, there's not much, but I couldn't risk any more. Thankfully, some of the house-elves are still loyal to me. Ms. Rajesh…"

"Call me Sari, please."

"Of course." Sari surveyed the woman. She was only a few years older than Sari. Nineteen? Twenty?

"I'm eighteen." Sari realized she had spoken aloud. "I just graduated from Hogwarts. You were friends with the… ehm… Marauders? That's what they call themselves, I do believe?"

"Yes. What's your name?"

"Narcissa. Narcissa Black." Narcissa smiled. "You're very good with words, Sari. Call me Cissy."

"Words?"

"Your little speech to the Dark Lord. A lot of us doubt him now. I want to thank you. I was forced into this group. I don't even have the Dark Mark, and I don't want it. Unfortunately, I'm being forced to marry Lucius Malfoy as well. I hope we never have a child. The poor thing."

"Ouch. I'm sorry."

"Yeah. My friends and I… Sari, we're going to get you out of here." Cissy looked serious. "I promise."

"Really? Then… I would suggest you owl my friends. To be safe, send it to Mika. Mika Oriang. She's Tara's closest friend, she'll understand."

"Alright. We're going to get you out of here. I'll keep you informed. Good-bye Sari!"

"Good-bye Cissy. And thank you."

"You're welcome."

Narcissa Black was a smart woman. She knew the difference between right and wrong. She had always been skeptical on the subject of the Dark Lord. Sari Rajesh was a brave seventeen-year-old. Now, Narcissa was smart, she knew that. However, she wasn't brave, at least she thought. She couldn't stand up to anyone, her goal was to please. Now she had to let down a group of people that she had grown up with. But she wasn't going to tell them, so maybe they… who was she kidding? She was going to be an outcast. At least she wouldn't have to marry that idiot, Lucius Malfoy.

"Narcissa." Speak of the devil. Cissy ground her teeth together but turned around.

"Yes, Lucius?" She said, trying to keep the malice out of her voice.

"There has been a change of plans. We're having the wedding next week. The Dark Lord is eager for me to produce an heir."

"Excuse me? What about my family? My friends? I refuse! Absolutely not!"

"Narcissa, Narcissa. This is just to make sure we are bonded. We will have your huge extravagant wedding later. In the summer, perhaps. Besides, are you not eager to marry me?" Lucius smirked and pushed past her, rushing, wanting the last word. But Narcissa wasn't about to let him have it.

"No. I'm not. Nobody would be _eager_ to marry you, _Malfoy_." And with that, Narcissa swept out, a smirk plastered across her face. It wasn't least like the weak one Lucius had. Narcissa was right to be proud of that smirk.

**A/N: Alright! Review, s'il vous plait! **


	14. We found a clue!

**A/N: I've decided to type out a bunch of chapters so I don't fall far behind! I'm hoping to get at least three done before I post this one… so that'll be Chapter 16. Goody! Alright. Writing now.**

"Ah, Miss Mary. Do come in." Dumbledore sat behind his desk, his fingers folded. He gestured to the chair in front of his desk. "I asked for you to come here because I had the feeling you had something to tell me. What is it?"

Mary bit her lip, her eyes closing. She finally opened them and reached into her bag, pulling out two pieces of parchment. "Here."

Dumbledore gazed at the parchment, his eyes moving slightly as he read the words upon them. "Ah. And I take it you are angry?"

"Yes. Dumbledore, I want to be trained now. I have to save Sari."

"It is your choice. I will contact Ms. Terious now."

"Thank you, headmaster."

"Of course, Mary, anytime. You need not worry. We will get Sari back. Not to worry! Now, I do believe you told your friends you would be at your flat?"

"Yes."

"Yes. Go there now. Ms. Terious will come and get you once she has heard you wish to be trained. And, Mary, remember not to breathe a word to anyone. You are very special."

"I wouldn't dream of it, Professor. Thank you again." Dumbledore inclined his head, and Mary left. She immediately strode out of the office and headed for the seventh floor. Well, it wasn't exactly an entire floor. It was the room behind the huge clocks. Lots of gears and stuff, but there was a pretty balcony where you could look out over everything. Mary pressed her hand to the wall next to it and a painting directly on the wall appeared.

"Mary!" A 13-year-old girl grinned at her. Her eyes were violet, and her black hair rippled down her back. "I've been so bored! Lily and James spend vacations in the Gryffindor dorms. Nobody to talk to!" She pouted.

"Sorry, Avery! They'll be over soon- after the New Year! New Year's Eve is two days away, can you believe it? Another year gone!"

"Yeah, I know! It's like my two hundred and something-ith!" Mary laughed.

"Alright, got to go home. Emerald."

"Uh-huh. Bye Mary!" Avery disappeared, and a wooden door appeared. Mary pulled the handle and stepped into the Head dorms. She crossed the room quickly, threw Floo powder into the fire, stepped in, said Mary, and was home.

"Look, has anybody seen Tara at all today? I really need to know, because if she doesn't show up soon I'm going out to look for her."

"Sirius, Tara is a grown up girl. Why are you so worried about her?" Kay said, rolling her eyes at the boy.

"I told you so!" Remus said, grinning at Sirius. Sirius just stuck out his tongue.

"That is so immature, Sirius, it's not even funny." Lily said, hiding her smile.

"Maybe I like being immature. Maybe it's because it's better than being a stuck-up Head Girl." Sirius spit out with malice. "At least I enjoy my life, or maybe being a bookworm is just part of your job description."

"Sirius, mate, that was uncalled for." James glanced over at Lily who had a quiet fury hidden in her eyes. "And now you're in major trouble." He mumbled, slouching. Sirius shot a contemptuous look at everyone around the circle and stormed off to his dorm.

"Lily…"

"He didn't really…"

"Lils…"

"Shut it. He meant it. He's in a bad mood, so when he's in a good one again I'll ruin it. James, have your finished your essay?"

"Yes." James said, slightly wary of the fiery girl across from him.

"Good. Do you want me to read it over?"

"Oh, yeah, thanks Lily."

"M-hm." Lily took the essay from his outstretched hand and curled up in her armchair by the fire.

"So, Kay, how are you?" Remus asked politely.

"Just fine, thanks. And you?"

"Good."

"Anything happened to you since we last talked?"

"Not really. Besides the girl I love getting kidnapped, nothing major."

"Ouch. Sorry I asked."

"Yeah."

"Well, hello. My name is James Potter. And yours?"

"Um… James? Are you okay?"

"Just dandy, so glad you asked. And yourself?" James grinned as the two looked at him before turning away and resuming small talk. He pouted for a second, then switched chairs to sit next to Lily, who had finished his essay and picked up a book. "What did you think?"

"Hm? Your essay? I just switched all the Guhhastlee Guhherkeens back to normal, and it should be ready to turn in."

"Thanks! I realized too late that doing the whole paper like that was a bad idea." Lily grinned at him.

"So… have you figured out who went you the necklace yet?"

"No, I have no idea." Lily looked up at him. "I'm saving wearing it for the next ball or something. Do you know who it was?"

"That, Lils, is for me to know and you to find out… maybe."

"Oh, c'mon! How the heck would I ever find out?"

"Maybe the person left a hint?"

"Maybe… thanks!" She leapt up and raced to the Gryffindor seventh year girls' dorms. James smiled after her, knowing full well that the clue would take months to figure out. Maybe even years.

Lily Evans could not, for the life of her, ever figure out James Potter. As she held the necklace in her hands, inspecting every inch, she pondered why he would tell her there was a clue. Well, this was one thing she didn't know. She didn't know a lot of things, true, but this was major. Lily Evans was a curious person with a thirst to know. She wanted to know how black holes were formed, how magic worked, and what the hell went on in that idiotic boy's, James Potter's, mind. Seriously. Maybe there was a clue in the box. She flipped up the top and pried up the bottom. Nothing. Frustrated, she stared at it for a few seconds, and then shook it. Still, nothing. But… wait… wasn't the bottom a little bit higher than the box's bottom? She knocked on it. It sounded hollow, but she couldn't be sure. After almost ten minutes of prying around the edges, she found a little tab and pulled it open. Out fell a small piece of paper with an address scrawled on it:

_1616 Phoenix Flame Avenue_

**A/N: Okay, I had to add in a mystery. Just had too! Any ideas, anyone? I feel like posting this now. I'm not very good with the whole type chapters before posting- I'm so eager to post, I don't read through and change anything. I don't like doing that- I'll go all perfectionist on myself and never be able to post anything. So! Please review? I got two last time- THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU YOU TWO! =]**


	15. Love is but Pain

**A/N: This format is bugging me. I need to figure out how to fix it. Stupid Microsoft Word.**

"James!" Lily raced down the stairs to the common room.

"Lily?" Remus looked up at the girl running down the stairs. He was playing Gobstones with Sirius, and, as usual, Sirius was failing miserably.

"Where's James?"

"He went upstairs, why?"

"I just need to talk to him, is all." She rushed to the stairs and sprinted up to the boy's dormitories.

THUD. BANG! BANG! BANG!

James moaned and turned over. Can't a guy try and get some sleep around here? "What?"

"It's me! Open up!"

"Lily?"

"Yeah." James sat bolt upright and reached for his jeans and t-shirt. He promptly fell out of bed.

"Wait a sec, Lils."

"Yeah, yeah, hurry!" He managed to tug on his jeans and force open the door. Lily stood there, her hair slightly mussed, panting. There was a gash across her cheek.

"Lily! What happened?"

"I tripped up the stairs."

"…"

"What?" She said irritably.

"Lily, it's extremely hard to trip UP stairs. Surely you mean missed a step or tripped going up and slid down?"

"No, silly, I tripped and tumbled up to the top."

"Lily… only you could actually trip UP the stairs." Lily stuck her tongue out at him.

"Oh that's mature." James drawled, rolling his eyes.

"Thank you for finally seeing it my way."

"Anyway, what did you come here for?"

"I need to tell you something."

"What?"

"You lied about that 8-pack."

"WHAT?"

"Seriously. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6."

"No… 7.8. See?"

"Those are your ribs."

"Are not!"

"Are too!"

"They are not!"

"Yes, they are. And put on a shirt. We're going on a field trip!"

"A field…?"

"Just meet me downstairs in, like, fifteen minutes!"

"Okay, okay!"

James stood impatiently in front of the portrait hole, waiting for Lily to come down the dorm stairs. Why was he doing this? Other than the blaringly obvious part where he was totally infatuated with her and all that. Seriously, James thought, these fairy tale endings only happen in the movies, and Lily and I are just another stupid example of that. About a hundred other guys are totally infatuated with her, and some of them were his friends. He couldn't tell her, for he didn't want their friendship to be strained, but he dealt with those little things like her leaning against him for a bit, or her smiling at him, giving him hugs… all the little things that made his heart beat faster. All those little things that she didn't even to seem to notice. The little things that made him fall a little harder… the little things that broke his heart when she did the same with other guys. Why did this crush he had affect him so much? For only in books did true love exist, and James was in the real world, where his heart was just going to get hammered, one blow at a time, as life went on. Was he in love with Lily? He wasn't even sure if he believed in love anymore… it wasn't love, it was pain. Pure pain. After all, what was love but another portrayal of pain?

Lily dug through her wardrobe. She was going somewhere, who knows where, with James Potter. Dumbledore had given them permission to just go, as long as they checked back every twelve hours or so. He trusted his Head boy and Head Girl to be safe. But she didn't even care about that. She was going on a trip with James Potter. She was still confused as to why she dragged him into this, but she knew she wanted him along. Why? She didn't know. Kay basically just said 'Blind!' and how was that supposed to help her? And what was she supposed to wear?

"Lily! James is waiting for you!"

"Okay! Wait, Kay, what am I supposed to wear? Please help me!" She begged. "I don't know what to expect. I don't even know why he's going with. Is he going as a friend? Does he feel sorry for me because I'm so desperate?"

"Blind."

"Stop with the blind already! I can see perfectly fine!" Lily said, on the verge of a total temper tantrum. Kay just threw a pair of jeans and a cute tee at her head.

"Now get your butt down there!" Kay shouted at her once she had changed.

"Going, going." Lily pushed open the door and started down the stairs before shrieking and running back up. "My wand!" She snatched it off her bedside table, along with the 'clue' and ran out again, thundering down the stairs.

"There you are. I thought you said fifteen minutes?"

"I did, I did, sorry! C'mon, let's go."

"Where are we going?"

"Does it matter?" Lily sighed, exasperated.

"Uh, kind of? Am I just supposed to blindly follow you everywhere?" James responded, rolling his eyes.

"We're going to 1616 Phoenix Flame Avenue." Lily said, grabbing his hand and pulling him out of the portrait hole. She was completely oblivious to the stunned expression on his face.

"Did she say 1616 Phoenix Flame Avenue?" Remus said, turning to Sirius with a confused expression on his face.

"That she did." Sirius said, sticking out his tongue at a Gobstone that had just squirted him in the face. It just squirted at him again. "Damn marble!" More squirting.

"Don't call it a marble, Sirius, it's a Gobstone. My Gobstones get offended easily. Be careful what you say." Remus said, as if scolding a child who had snatched a cookie from the cookie jar behind his back. "Now, why on earth would she want him to go with her to 1616 Phoenix Flame Avenue?"

"C'mon, Remus, why do you care? She just wants him to help her find whoever sent her that necklace."

"Is everybody here totally oblivious? It's so obvious who gave her the necklace!"

"Oooh! Who, who, who? Tell me tell me tell me!" Sirius said, portraying a three year old once again.

"Let me figure out a few things first."

"Aw. I wanna know!" Sirius whined.

"Later, later. Hey, have you seen Tara lately?"

"I'VE BEEN ASKING THAT QUESTION ALL DAY!!!!"

**A/N: Well, it's been a while since I updated… well, since I've written anything in general. But my touring show's over now, so I have a lot of free time on my hands. Plus it's April Break, so I've got time over this week too. I'm hoping to update some more soon. Sorry it's been so long. I know I kind of left that huge mystery with the clue. And that hasn't really been answered yet, so I'm gonna try to do that next chapter. Plus there will be more about Mary in the next few chapters I hope. So, review if you please, if you don't just read it at least. Thanks!**


	16. Those Big Grey Eyes

**A/N: I'm going to write several chapters and post them up one by one. It seems the best way to keep up. The chance of me actually doing this is, well, let's just say we're about to enter negative numbers.**

Mary's head spun from the portkey that had been placed on the table in her living room. She put her hand against the rocky wall to steady herself and took a few shaky steps down the tunnel before pushing off the wall and feeling normal again. She struggled to keep her footing on the steep slope that led only to darkness. "Ms. Terious? Are you there?"

"Ah, Mary, child. I'm in the back. Hurry, hurry." The harsh whisper floated by Mary, and she shivered from the false sweetness that mixed with it. It was almost as bad as The Hag, a girl who was a year below Mary and the others. She swore that girl was only set to do bad things.

"Of course, Ms. Terious."

"Now, why have you swung by, child? Not for your training. I have never taught one so young. Ah, but you do have power. Power…" Ms. Terious' voice wavered, as if she herself were afraid of the Power. Mary almost snorted. It was all a big show she had been pushed through all too many times.

"I am here for my training, actually. A friend of mine was kidnapped by Tom Riddle and I need my power to get her back. You know both my power and Tom Riddle like the back of your hand and I need your assistance."

"Tom Riddle? Why, child…"

"Enough! Come on Misty, we both know you know him all too well. And stop calling me child." Mary rolled her eyes. "I'm sick of the act."

"Nyah, nyah." A tiny figure stepped out from the shadows and flipped a light switch so that the once never ending darkness was flooded with a bright white light. A little girl with huge grey eyes appeared, wearing a dress that swirled around her legs. "You are the only one who knows my true form. Stop using it against me. If everybody knew I was frozen at four, I would never command the respect I do now."

"I'm sure that you would. They wouldn't even notice your height or anything. It would just be those big grey eyes of yours." Mary laughed. "They're hypnotizing, they are."

"Sometimes I wish they weren't. I got so unlucky." Misty pouted.

"Why?"

"Well, when I transform into, say, your age, all anybody ever asks about or looks at are my eyes! 'Such pretty eyes, you've got.' 'Where did such beautiful eyes come from?' 'Does your mom or dad have the same eyes?' Eyes, eyes, eyes. Seriously, I'd rather talk about the weather then talk about my eyes. It's so creepy!"

"Such pretty eyes you have, my dear."

"Ah, shut up."

"You're too young to use such bad words. Remember, 'stupid' is a bad word, 'shut up' is good for a go to your room!"

"By all laws, I'm older than you are! I've even got my apparition license and my driver's license!"

"You can't drive."

"Yeah I can. It took me twelve years to convince the lady to let me take the test. Only then did she believe me."

"Why didn't you use magic?"

"Really, Mary?"

"Sorry. I forgot you weren't a witch."

"How do you forget that I'm not a witch? Just because we have the same power doesn't mean we are of the same species!"

"But you're not a Muggle either."

"No, I'm not."

"So what exactly _are_ you?" Mary said, bewildered at how she never had asked this question before.

"That's not important." Misty sighed. "It's a story for another time, actually. Dumbledore sent me a Patronus message. Fool. I nearly jumped out of my skin. I had no idea the things could actually talk."

"Nobody ever sent you or told you about a Patronus message?"

"Not in my entire life."

"Did they send you owls?"

"Don't be daft. Of course they sent me owls. But that's all that they sent me. No freaky silver creatures meant to ward off soul sucking demons! I am not a soul sucking demon."

"Well that's one magical animal I can check off the list. Misty is not a dementor."

"Demon-tor. Told you they were demons."

"I don't think that's why they're called dementors. I think it has something to do with 'demented.'"

"Whatever. I don't really care what you think."

"That's kind of you."

"To work! You have a lot of learning to do, Miss Mary."

"You make me sound like that brat from the Secret Garden."

"What?"

"Never mind."

Lily set a brisk pace down the narrow dirt path. James followed silently. He had no idea where they were. He was almost positive that this didn't have anything to do with Lily's necklace. But you just don't argue with Lily Evans when Lily Evans wants something done. Or you will die. Just kidding. She wouldn't want you to have it as easy as that.

"Alright, so, the clue said 1616 Phoenix Flame Avenue. There are 36 Phoenix Flame Avenues in Europe. If this person is not in Europe, that's too bad, because who would send me a beautiful necklace that doesn't live in the country? Either they're a stalker or have nothing better to do with their lives. Of those 36, 14 extend to the number 1616. This is the first one I decided to go to. I don't know why. I just did."

"Have you ever stopped to consider that maybe the clue doesn't lead to a street at all?"

"Well that where does it lead to, O Brilliant One?"

"I don't know. I just think that you need to think more about this and look at it from all different perspectives. I'm sure the guy who sent you this necklace knew you, and assumed you'd look at it in more ways than just the easiest one."

"What do you mean the easiest one?"

"I mean that the most obvious thing for 1616 Phoenix Flame Avenue to mean is an address. But I don't think anybody who knows you expects you to take the easy way out. Hey, maybe I'm wrong…"

"No! I'm not taking the easy way out! I'm taking the logical one!"

"But it's not logical if you look at it from the perspective of the person who sent this to you. This person knows you, Lily. Even if he's a stalker, he would know you. You're not hard to figure out."

"Is that an insult?"

"Why are you getting angry with me?"

"I am not."

"Yes, you are. Why are you upset?"

"I'm not upset!"

"Alright, sure. Anyway, I think we should go back to the castle and sit down and look at this clue from every different angle. We can always come back here if it turns out that these addresses are the only way that the clue can be analyzed."

"Okay, okay, you win. We'll go back and take another look at the clue."

"And maybe get some others to help?"

"Yeah, yeah."

"You don't have to everything on your own, Lily." James laughed. "Remus would be a big help here. He knows a lot about stuff like this. He had a whole set of clues for his birthday party last year and then nobody could figure it out. Turns out he wanted us to use the Eternit, or whatever. It was the strangest thing I ever saw."

"The Internet?"

"Yeah, that was it! It was just too many words and complicated things and my team- Sirius and I- got beat by Remus neighbors from across the street. It was pretty sad."

"Nice. You know, we do things like that all the time. And the internet is really very simple to everybody but you, Sirius, and all the old Muggles who are absolutely hopeless with technology. You grow up in this day and age, and you should be able to type so fast it's faster than writing with a Quick Quotes Quill."

"So, could you tell me?"

"You want me to explain the internet to you?"

"Well, yeah, and whatever typing is, too."

"Wow. You know what, when we get back to Hogwarts, I'll just show you my Mac and then we can start on this whole internet thing. I'm sure I could charm up an internet connection. I got around the iPod fuzziness, that should be no problem."

"Why would you need a connection?" Lily rolled her eyes.  
"You have a lot to learn, my friend." The two continued on in silence until they reached the specialized Portkey Dumbledore had designed. It was set specifically to only James and Lily's touches, and would travel to wherever it told them to, kind of like Floo, only with a raggedy old blanket that could be draped anywhere, and nobody would suspect a thing. However, anybody could see them whirl off into nothingness, so they had to be careful. And the thing wasn't perfect either, which is why the Ministry had forbidden it. It needed strong magic to be conjured and would draw on the wizard who made its strength until they died. So it was very dangerous for one to be made. Even in a factory. Magic would always find a way to pinpoint the exact person who was responsible for the things to be made. Besides, magical factories created more waste then twelve muggle factories. So stuff like brooms were made in muggle-styled factories and then charmed by hand.

"Hogwarts." Lily said loudly and clearly, after checking about for any Muggles and casting a spell to check for people peeking out their windows. All was quiet on the street, and dark too, except for one little window on all the way down at the end of the street. It was barely a pinprick, and so safe. The two of them felt the familiar tug at their navel and then were safe, appearing in the middle of the Gryffindor Dormitory. Lily immediately sent an owl out to Dumbledore saying that they would be postponing their trip until February Break, when they would have a week or so to continue their search. She added that she may lose interest by then, or the person may come forward, so not to worry too much until then. They would not set out again this vacation, for New Year's Eve was in a few days, and then classes started two days after that.

**A/N: Yay! Quick update. Please review, it's like my favorite thing ever. I also would like to share with you guys, for just a moment, the beauty of Facebook's one and only Flair. It is amazingly amazing, and you should check it out sometime. Sometime soon. IF you do get the chance to (which you should. Like right now.) Look at the Friends are like Potatoes one. It's my favorite. In forever. :P So, now press the purple button, and then go to Facebook (If you have one) and go to Flair and search Friends are like Potatoes and look at other ones and love it just as much as I do. REVIEW S'IL VOUS PLAÎT (PLEASE)!**


	17. Arosanexa

**A/N: I don't have anything to say. I just like putting these in the beginning. It's like a weird benchmark thing for me. O.o**

"Narcissa! Narcissa, darling, I can't believe you're getting married! And to Lucius Malfoy, no less. You lucky girl! Ah, darling, I so wish… I wish I was getting married to him. The money you'll have! The power! Oh, you'll be a queen! But I have to get married to that absolute slob Matt Parkinson. Even his name is strange! Matt! I mean, seriously!" Narcissa listened patiently as her "best friend" just talked and talked and talked. She was very boring, really, nothing like talking to Sari down in the dungeons. Her name was Arosanexa and she was the same age as Narcissa. She had been in Slytherin, too, but not for her cunning. She was there for her vanity. Narcissa had been put there because she was cunning and devious. She certainly wasn't evil, and she certainly did NOT want to marry Lucius Malfoy today! Well, she wasn't like dark evil, like Voldemort evil. She was evil in her own little fun-loving way.

"Narcissa, it's time for you to put on your dress. Which is absolutely, completely, totally stunning! It's gorgeous, you're going to love it!" Narcissa rolled her eyes.

"You know that looks don't matter to me, Rose."

"Ah, but they should. And don't call me Rose; it makes me feel like a child again. And I've graduated Hogwarts!"

"That doesn't mean you shouldn't be treated like a child." Narcissa murmured under her breath.

"What was that, darling?"

"I was simply saying that children are the next generation and should never be looked down upon." Narcissa answered as sophisticatedly as she could. The answer satisfied Arosanexa, and she continued to gabble on. "Arosanexa, do excuse me for a moment, I shall be right back."

"What about your dress?"

"Oh, go over it, make sure it's absolutely perfect. You're so good at that." She gushed. Arosanexa brightened immediately and Narcissa knew she'd be fawning over the dress and picking at every crease and fold for the next hour. She just had to see somebody first…

Narcissa hurried across the dungeon floor, past Sari's cell. She nodded to her friend and flashed a quick smile, but then headed even further down into the darkness. Down she went, past flights of stairs and more moaning people. There, down one final flight, was a single cell. And in that cell sat a very important prisoner, not only to Voldemort, but to Narcissa herself.

"Narcissa. You've come." A voice rasped through the bars. "I thought I might never see you again."

"Of course. Today's my wedding day. There will be tons of people, but they won't be here. They'll be outside. Listen closely. Up twelve flights of stairs and four cells down on the right is one of the people you will be freeing. Her name is Sari. Take her immediately to Dumbledore. He can help all of you. He won't care who you used to be, only who you are now. I will escape, hopefully during the honeymoon, and make my way to Hogwarts as well. We can stage a kidnapping. I have one more person on the inside working with me, but I shall not reveal their name."

"Sari… Twelve up… Four on right…"

"Yes. I can see you're getting weaker as we speak. Dumbledore will help you. Trust me and trust Sari. It is because of her that this is even possible. Her gift of speaking is unlike any I have ever seen. She's managed to turn quite a few supporters, and even ones that were once the most loyal, into spies or deserters. Voldemort is struggling from this loss. We need to act now. I will see you as soon as I can. Here." Narcissa passed a set of keys through the bars. "Only you and I can see those set of keys or feel them. They will work on any door. Leave them in the cherry tree just outside the front gate, so I know that you are safe. If you are unable to, drop them somewhere along the front walk. I will see you soon."

"Goodbye, Narcissa. Thank you. I feel… hope. Once again, I feel it. It will keep me strong."

"Goodbye." Narcissa turned and quickly ran up all the sets of stairs. She had kept well in shape by constantly traveling these dungeons. Now, she had to go perform one of the hardest tasks of her life… marriage to Lucius Malfoy. She shuddered at the thought as she came, at last, to her room.

"Narcissa!" Arosanexa waved. "Come, come, fabulous!"

"Alright, so, you really want to train? Obviously, otherwise you wouldn't be here. Because nobody comes to see me for no reason at all." Misty sighed dramatically.

"Misty."

"Stop it! You sound like my mother."

"You never met your mother."

"That doesn't mean you don't sound like her."

"Valid point, but you wouldn't know that, now would you?"

"Anyway! First, I need to know what you need training for."

"Meaning?"

"What are you training to be?"

"I'm training to have full reign over my powers."

"To be, Mary. Do you know what you are?"

"A witch with powers."

"What do your powers do?" Misty sighed again, but not so dramatically. "Mary, I'm asking you if you know what your powers do and what the name is for people like you."

"Um… Dumbledore just told me I had extraordinary powers and so I needed to have control over them."

"Do you know what they do?"

"I just kind of figured that they would provide me with extra magical power, like the ability to do things that other witches and wizards my age can't without lots of hard work."

"Um, no, you fail." Misty grinned. "You're a lot more powerful than that, darling; don't even categorize yourself as a witch. As in I am not really a Muggle, and I am not really a human. So you are not really a witch or really a human either."

"But I go to a witchcraft school…"

"That just means that if you didn't have your powers, you'd be a witch. Stripped of all your abilities, you are just a human. Then you also have the rarity of being a witch. But it is on top of that that you are a Faerie, and then of course we will figure out which type you are. I have a feeling that you are more of a Common Faerie than a Super-Ultra-Mega-Ruler-Faerie, because that's so dang cliché it would drive me wild."

"How is that cliché?"

"It's like storybook. It's like the girl with the friend in danger needs to unlock her powers in time to save her and omg! She's the most powerful faerie in the world and she's going to save us all! Um, no."

"Aw, why can't I save everybody?" Mary laughed. "No, I agree. I don't want that either. I just want to be able to help."

"Stop it!!! You even sound cliché then! You know you want to be the person who saves us all, everybody dreams of it, but nobody is. Everybody does something, there's no one triumphant savior. You're a Faerie. There are others. There are many who haven't been discovered. But, you are in rather drastic need of your true powers right now."

"Sorry. And yes, I am, so let's get to work."

**A/N: Got no reviews last time, please review!**


	18. An Escape and a Wedding

**A/N: It's been a while, sorry! But I decided to write a lovely long chapter because it's Summer, and I actually have time! Yay! **** Well, longer than normal, I think. I'm actually hoping for this to become the normal length. Anyway, I hope you guys like it.**

"OI! James! I have an idea."

"Oh no."

"No, no, no. This is a good idea!" Sirius said, grinning. "Seeing as everything that happened around here lately is all depressing, I decided Gryffindor is going to host a huge New Years Party!"

"Sirius, the party would consist of all of ten people. Nobody stayed for the holidays, Sari is gone, and Peter went home. On top of that, Mary went back to her flat and who knows when she'll be back, if ever."

"Fine! Then we'll just have a mini-party with you, me, Remus, Lily, Tara, and Kay!"

"Remus will be all depressed."

"He'll get over it to have fun with us, won't he?"

"I don't know, Sirius, he's pretty upset."

"C'mon, isn't there some muggle saying…"

"Please don't start with the muggle sayings, Sirius. Remember last time? You offended about every muggleborn and halfblood in the entire castle, and we had to fight off a mob."

"That was not my fault."

"Yes, it was. But anyway, I'll talk to Lily about the party. We don't have much time to plan anything, but I'm sure we could pull something together."

"Good. I thought we might have to sit around staring at each other all day."

"Nobody sits around staring at each other all day."

"You do it all the time."

"What? No I don't."

"You sit around staring at Lily all day long!" Sirius said incredulously. "And don't even try to deny it."

"Staring at each other involves two people, idiot. She never stares back at me." James said, rolling his eyes.

"So you admit it!"

"No, I was just pointing out an alternate way that you were wrong, because you told me not to deny it."

"You're a nerd."

"I'm not a nerd! If I'm a nerd, you're a playboy bunny! And I really hope you're not a playboy bunny, Sirius, because if you are…"

"I'm not a playboy bunny! It would be playgirl, after all."

"Playgirl doesn't exist. Who are you kidding?"

"Playgirl does too exist!"

"Even if it did, how would you know that?"

"There are advertisements for it in Playboy."

"You read Playboy?" James stared. "That's a muggle magazine!"

"So?" Sirius rolled his eyes. "Honestly, James, you're so prejudiced!" Sirius strolled out of the room, leaving James gaping after him.

"Lily…" Tara said, holding up a magazine.

"Yeah?"

"What is this?" Tara said. "It's a muggle magazine, because the pictures aren't moving, but there's all these weird pictures of girls in it."

"Where'd you get that?"

"It was in the common room."

"Throw it out! Or burn it or something!" Lily said. "It's an awful magazine, all about exploiting women and just totally disgusting!"

"You sound like some kind of women's rights activist."

"That magazine should be banned, but its muggle, so no! Only wizard stuff is banned here!"

"Actually, some muggle stuff is…"

"I mean, honestly! I would go to Professor Dumbledore, but then I would look like a crazy person!"

"You are…"

"And what if…?"

"Lily, shut up! I was just asking you what it was!"

"Oh."

"Alrighty then. I'm going to go burn this, as you are so opinionated on the subject." Tara said, exiting the room only to be confronted by Sirius.

"Hey! That's mine!"

Lily sighed, setting her head in her hands. These people, she thought, are the craziest, worst mannered, most fun people I have ever met. It finally was starting to feel like a normal day again. The only weird part was they were some of the only people in the castle, and Sari was gone.

"Hey, Lily? Are you alright?"

"What? Yeah, I'm fine. What is it, James?"

"Well, Sirius had this idea…"

"Oh no."

"That's what I said! But it didn't turn out to be that bad. He wants to throw a party on New Year's."

"With what, six people?"

"He said it could be a quiet one. Just you, me, him, Tara, Remus, and Kay." James replied. "He wants everybody to be cheerful again, I think. It's sort of his way of coping."

"When you put it that way, how am I supposed to refuse?"

"Excellent! He'll be thrilled. Thanks, Lily!" James grinned. "You want to go to Hogsmeade and get stuff with us?"

"Sure, why not?"

The two of them headed down to the common room, chatting. What they came across when they got there was hardly casual, however.

"YOU DID WHAT?"

"Really, Tara, it's not that bad…"

"NOT THAT BAD? WHAT ARE YOU, CRAZY? DEAR MERLIN, SIRIUS! YOU JUST DON'T DO THAT! IT'S NOT SOMETHING YOU DO! IT'S IMMATURE, AND IRRESPONSIBLE, AND I DON'T KNOW WHY I DIDN'T SEE IT COMING, BUT YOU… YOU… ARGH!"

"I'm sorry!"

"OH, YOU'RE SORRY! WHAT YOU WERE THINKING, I WILL NEVER KNOW!" Tara screeched, continuing to carry on.

"What did he do?" Lily whispered to James.

"I don't know, it could be any number of things. Why don't we just go to Hogsmeade without them…"

"That's probably a good idea." Lily whispered back, and the two of them tiptoed across the common room and out through the portrait hole.

"Are you Sari?" A nervous voice came through the bars.

"Yes. Who are you?" Sari replied, quietly. Nobody had been to her cell in a long time, and this voice was new.

"Hold on, please. Minerva is going to open this up for you. We're going to be free."

"Free?"

"Yes. Minerva is freeing those loyal to Dumbledore. We have to get out of here. My name is Andromeda, how are you?"

"I'm good, now. Please, get me out of here quickly."

"We will… child… hold on…" A new, raspy voice came. The beholder sounded weak, as if she was near death. Then Sari heard a clink. "Come now… quickly…"

"Sari, c'mon, it's open." Sari pushed her way through the door and somebody grabbed her hand. "C'mon, you're the last one, we have to move quickly!"

"Did Narcissa help you, too?"

"Yes. She is our savior, and is giving up her life right now so that we may escape. At this moment, she is marrying Lucius Malfoy. It's the perfect time to go; every death eater was required to attend the wedding. Narcissa modified all the guards without Voldemort realizing. It was switched. We could leave, but none others can, other than her and her helper, who we don't know the identity of. But the moment the wedding ends, so does that spell, so we must hurry." Throughout this little speech, Andromeda was pulling Sari up stairs and around corners, and now they stood in the shadows of the front hall. It was completely deserted.

"Let's go." A man's voice came. Sari glanced around. There were four others besides her and Andromeda. One, who Sari thought was the woman with the raspy voice, was being supported by two others, the man who spoke and a woman. The other was a little girl, aged at about five. The group hurried across the hall and the supported woman, Minerva, opened the door with an invisible key.

"Free…" Minerva mumbled as she stepped out into the courtyard. The group continued along the front walk, which was so long it took a few minutes to get to the magnificent gate that was the entrance to the manor. Everybody was jumpy; they kept glancing around them until the gate was finally reached. This was also opened and Minerva put the invisible keys into a tree next to the front gate.

"Now, we can apparate. Can you apparate yet?"

"No, I'm not taking the test until later in the year. I have a late birthday." Sari replied.

"Then hold on to my arm tightly." Sari clung to Andromeda's arm and the two were soon shoved through the tight tube of apparition. Only she, Andromeda, and Minerva ended up in front of the Hogwarts gated.

"Where are the others?"

"They went home to their families. They will be joining us soon."

"Except for me." Came a voice behind them. There stood the little five-year-old.

"Oh, I didn't see you there. I'm sorry. Where's your family?"

"They're dead."

"Sari, who are you talking to?"

"The little girl right there. The one who escaped with us?"

"Sari, there was no little girl." Andromeda said. "Are you feeling okay?"

"Andromeda, she's right there!" Sari said. "She's about five, with dark black hair in pigtails and violet eyes."

"They can't see me." The little girl said.

"What?"

"They can't see me. Only you can. Well, in this group that is."

"Why?"

"Because they can't!" The little girl said. "They just don't have the ability to see me."

"Are you real?"

"Yes, I am. I'm not just a figment of your imagination." The girl replied. "Don't worry, Dumbledore will be able to see me."

"Okay…" Sari turned back to Andromeda, who was looking at her funny, and Minerva, who seemed totally unfazed.

"Don't… worry. People see… things others can't…often." Minerva said. Her voice was getting weaker. "Dumbledore…" She sighed and opened the Hogwarts gate with a wave of her hand. The group hurried through, and she closed it again.

"Home." Sari said, and broke out into a run. Up the drive, around the lake, and through the grounds. In the doors, and up… up… to Gryffindor Tower.

"Was that Sari?" Linzi said. "I thought she, like, disappeared or something."

"What does it matter?"

"She could ruin your whole James plan just by being there, Marci. Like, seriously. Sometimes I wonder if you have a brain." Though Linzi sounded like your regular dimwitted prep, she was still a Ravenclaw.

"No, she couldn't. All that matters is James and Lily. Lily has to see me being comforted by James. And James has to feel bad for me, and not know I'm faking. That's all that matters."

"You should be aware of everybody, not just them. It could be a major problem!"

"Chill, Linzi. You're such a Nervous Nelly."

"A what? What did you just call me? Is that bad?"

"It means you're paranoid." Marci said, rolling her eyes. "And you just handed me Exhibit A."

"Are you, like, feeling off? You're so rude and mean today!"

"No, I'm not. I'm just upset that my boyfriend is being stolen by that redheaded little bimbo!"

"I don't think she's a bimbo. She's actually quite intelligent."

"Honestly, Linzi, pick a personality! You're so bipolar sometimes!" And Marci stalked off, leaving her only friend thoroughly confused.

"And do you, Lucius Malfoy, take Narcissa Black as your lawfully wedded wife?"

"I do." Lucius smirked.

"And do you, Narcissa Black, take Lucius Malfoy to be your lawfully wedded husband."

"I do." Narcissa spat.

"You may kiss the bride, and I now declare you wizard and wife." Lucius kissed Narcissa, but she pulled away quickly. There was applause, but nobody really cared that much.

"Narcissa, Lucius, you will have you large wedding and reception over the summer. You have a one week honeymoon all set up for you, but please return quickly. There is still much to be done." Voldemort said, leering at the two.

"My Lord!" A crash came as the two doors flew open, and Crabbe, the Death Eater on watch, came running through. "My Lord, the prisoners, they… half of them are gone!"

"What?" Voldemort hissed. "You did not see them leave? You dimwitted fool! They obviously took advantage of the wedding to escape!"

"My Lord, I didn't…"

"Quiet!" Voldemort shouted. "Rookwood, Goyle, Avery! Search the grounds! Everyone else, make yourselves useful! You two, get out of my sight! I don't need and dilly-dallying!"

"Yes, My Lord." Lucius said, disapparating with Narcissa. Nobody noticed the smile that was gracing her face as she watched the pandemonium fade.

"Narcissa, darling…"

"Quiet, Lucius. I don't want to hear it. I'm tired, and will be retiring to bed now. Tomorrow morning I will go shopping in the village. Now, leave me be." Lucius gnashed his teeth, but left. "Heralya!" Narcissa called, and a great black owl flew to her window.

Dear Silver,

Everything seems to have worked well so far. Keep me posted on

any news of the capture or escape of the prisoners. I will be shopping in the

village tomorrow morning, and will take my leave from there around 11.

Have everything set and ready.

Sincerely,

Gold

**A/N: Please leave a review! Hopefully I'll be posting more often. XD**


	19. ScoobyDoo Strawberries

**A/N: I'm really not good with updating often. I really should update more. But I have nothing going on right now, so I'm going to try to get one or two other chapters up in the next week. Alrighty then.**

Sari arrived, panting and completely out of breath, in front of the portrait of the Fat Lady.

"Password?"

"Christmas Cheers."

"I'm sorry, my dear, but that was the last password. The password changed just a few days ago, and that password is no longer valid."

"But I was kidnapped by Voldemort!"

"My dear! Do not make up ludicrous stories to cover up your mistakes. It is obvious you forgot the new password, and since you knew the old one, I will let you in just this once. But from now on, you must remember the password. And did you know I could break glass just with my voice? You simply must hear it!"

"I'm kind of in a hurry, maybe next time?"

"Oh, alright, alright." The Fat Lady frowned and swung open. "But next time, you must hear it! It's absolutely beautiful!"

"Yes, yes, of course." Sari rolled her eyes and clambered through the portrait hole. She almost burst into hysterics the moment she walked in. 'Typical Tara and Sirius.' She thought.

"YOU YELLOW-BELLIED BASTARD! YOUR MOTHER WAS A GERBIL AND YOUR FATHER SMELLED OF BLACKBERRIES!"

"Tara, it's 'Your mother was a hamster and your father smelled of elderberries.'" Sirius said meekly.

"ARGH!" Tara screamed out of frustration and stomped upstairs.

"What did you do?" Sari asked Sirius.

"Y'know, commented on how she looked like one of the girls in the magazine, told her she should try it sometime, y'know modeling and all…and then I had forgotten that she disappeared for awhile. So I said 'Wow! Look! You're back! I had no need to be worried after all. Stupid me. Worrying over Tara.'"

"Sirius, seriously?"

"Yeah, I know, it wasn't that smart, was it?" Sirius slumped. "Well, I'll just be going now. Thanks for the talk, Sari." He walked off, leaving Sari to stare at him. Did nobody notice she had gone?

"SARI!" Sirius jumped about a foot in the air and whirled around. "Holy shit, I'm so sorry! What happened? How did you escape? Heck yes! Remus won't be all glum and you can come to my party now! Yaaayyy!"

"Er…"

"Wait! Hold that thought! I'm going to go get everyone! Then you can tell us the story. It'll be like storytime!" Sirius ran off in the direction of the boys' dormitories, whooping about storytime and unglummified best friends.

"What a strange person." Sari laughed to herself. A huge smile spread across her face as she took in the common room. 'You really don't appreciate the small things until you are torn away from them.' She thought. It was almost unreal to be back, and she pinched herself to check whether or not she was dreaming.

"Sari?" A voice came. "Sari, is that really you?"

"Hm?" Sari said, turning around. There stood Remus. "Remus?" Sari stood shock still for a second before running to him. "Remus! I can't believe it!"

"Sari…" Sari threw her arms around him and hugged him tight. He put his arms around her and just held her. "I was so worried about you."

"I'm okay. They didn't do anything but lock me up. Narcissa Black brought me food and helped me and lots of others escape."

"Sari, c'mon, we have to get you to Dumbledore."

"But I want to see everybody else first."

"We'll get everyone to come meet you there. C'mon, we have to get you to him. He'll want to know that you returned. Plus, he'll be able to contact Lily and James. I think they went to Hogsmeade to look at stuff for the party Sirius wants to plan."

"Alright, if you're sure."

"I'm sure. Let's go." Remus said, grabbing her hand. "I really missed you, Sari."

"I missed you too." She beamed at him. "Alright, let's go then!"

"Coming, coming." Remus grinned. He was just happy to see her smile again. Happy to just be around her again. He clung to her hand and followed her out the portrait hole.

"Aren't you going to listen to my voice, dears?" The Fat lady shouted after them, harrumphing as they blatantly ignored her.

Lily strode along the shops in Hogsmeade, shivering slightly from the cold. James was a few paces behind her, and she could hear his footsteps crunching in the snow. She was confused right now about her feelings towards James. He had always bothered her over the years, but she had never taken the time to really get to know him. Mostly this was because Severus hated him, and had asked her to please stay away from him. She should have never listened to Severus. He had been her best friend, but really, she had just been avoiding the inevitable. She guessed she was just good at that. And now that she had gotten to know James, he was really a great guy. He was nothing like she had expected. She had expected some big-headed prat, but the moment she looked at him without the hatred, he wasn't that much more big-headed than all the other guys here. She had kind of overreacted when he had believed those horrible things about her, and to be honest she would do anything to take back her reaction. She knew now he had just been confused, and that he would never fancy Marci over her. Marci. What a brat. Marci had always hated Lily, probably because of her huge crush on James and how Lily got along with everyone. At first, Lily, who tried to believe in the good of everyone if she could, thought the girl was simply misguided. But it had soon become obvious that Marci was just honestly no good. It was sad, because something was obviously wrong in her life, otherwise she wouldn't be so attention-addicted and rude. Maybe her home life?

"Hey Lily?"

"Yeah?"

"Do you want to pop into Honeydukes or grab a butterbeer or something? It's awfully cold out, and we've got quite a few things for the party. I'm sure that we'll be done with that in no time."

"Yeah, I have to get some fresh Scooby-Doo-shaped strawberries, and only Madam Rosmerta has them. Why don't we pop into the Three Broomsticks?"

"Sure thing." The pair headed into the cozy tavern and sat down fairly quickly, as there weren't many customers that day.

"Two butterbeers, please!" Lily said to Madam Rosmerta. "And I'll pick up my order of strawberries when we leave."

"Of course, Lily? How are you, James?"

"Great, thanks!" James grinned at Rosmerta before turning back to Lily. "Hey Lily?"

"Yeah?" Lily replied, her heart going a little faster at the good natured grin on his face.

"What are Scooby-Doos?" James said, a flash of curiosity going thorough his eyes.

"Scooby-Doo is a muggle character. He's a great dane dog who helps solve mysteries with his owner, Shaggy, and their friends, Freddy, Velma, and Daphne. It's really a great show. There are a whole bunch of movies too. I loved it as a kid."

"Does Scooby-Doo talk or anything? I mean, he's a dog."

"He talks a bit, but he speaks with all these 'r's. Like Ruh-roh, Raggy!"

"That's interesting…"

"Honestly, what do wizard children do for fun?" Lily asked. "You don't have TVs or computers, and you can't use a wand yet. You don't even have iPods or the internet. Do you just play tag all day?"

"There are some like wizard preschools, and sometimes we even go to regular muggle school. Not often though, and so we don't know much about muggle contraptions. We have tons of stuff to do, though. My parents would always send me to somebody else's house, and we'd play with toy broomsticks or go look in the windows at Diagon Alley. There's a lot of games, too, like wizard chess and wiznet."

"I've never heard of wiznet. What is it?"

"Well, you buy it and it comes in a box. It's this rectangle thing and when you tap it, it shows 3-D wizgames, like little races or popping bubbles."

"So it's like a minigame central in 3-D?"

"That sounds like it, sort of, I guess."

Beep. Beep. Beep.

"Oh, look, it's Dumbledore." Lily pulled out a device and slid it open.

"What is that?" James said, staring at the strange black rectangle.

"It's a cell phone. This one is the Samsung Rogue. It slides open sideways, and there's a keyboard where you type. You can also close it, and then use the touch screen. See, if I tap 'Dialer,' it shows a set of numbers. If I type in a certain set of numbers, it'll call another cell phone. You can also set people on speed dial, and then you only have to hit one number. Dumbledore is number 3 for me, so if I press '3' and then press 'Send,' I can talk to him over the phone. He just sent me a text, when instead of connecting to a phone and talking through it, you send a message. It's like a really really really fast owl message. You get it instantly. He wrote 'Cum 2 office. Rt awy. Hurry!'"

"What? Those aren't even words!"

"Muggles are lazy so they use a short hand. 'Cum' is come, '2' is to, 'Rt' is right, and 'awy' is away."

"So it says 'Come to office. Right away. Hurry!' That makes a lot more sense. We better get up to the castle then." James said. "And Lily?"

"Yeah?"

"Can I have a cell phone?"

"Sure. You just have to charm it to work within the castle grounds. I'll do it for you, I've got another one of these Rogues in my room. My dad works for Samsung, so I could get ones for everybody, actually."

"Well, Remus has one of those really cool WizTalks, which is a lot alike to the cell phone."

"Yeah, but you can only use them two or three times a day, or the magic charm will wear off. You could use a cell phone all day, you just have to charge it at night."

"That's really cool! Can you use them like anywhere?"

"Well, Muggles need to have service where their cell phones are to call or text people, but my charm makes it work all the time. You still have to charge it at night, or it goes dead until you charge it again."

"Wow. The things Muggles can do without magic. I never knew they were really that smart, to be honest."

"Some Muggles are extremely intelligent, well, some are absolutely brilliant. Some Muggles can be unbearably idiotic though. It's not really their fault, but if they tried a bit harder, they'd go farther, y'know?"

"Yeah. It's the same with wizards, I guess. Some of us are just not bright."

"Like Crabbe from last year!"

"Oh dear Merlin, that guy…" The two of them burst out laughing.

**A/N: I hope you liked it! I've got some good ideas for the next chapter, so hopefully that'll be up on like Sunday maybe? Maybe Monday. Please review! Thank you!**


	20. Bree

**A/N: Well, it's faster than the last one!**

Sari sat nervously in Dumbledore's office, unsure what to say or do when her friends got there. Would they be overjoyed? Shocked? What would they think? What would they say? It really was much ado about nothing, but she still couldn't help but think about it. For what was she to say to them, really? What could she say? 'Hey, sup, I'm back from being kidnapped! Let's go on like nothing happened.' She didn't want them to treat her as if she was fragile, or to give her security or anything. That would be downright scary.

_Knock. Knock._

Oh, dear. That must be them. Should she open the door, or wait for Dumbledore? She felt isolated, all alone. Like her friends weren't even real. Would they still like her? Would they be upset? It was all her fault for getting captured, and making them worry. Why else would Remus have run out so quickly after bringing her here? Why else would Dumbledore have headed straight upstairs after motioning her to take a seat? Were they all mad at her? She didn't know what to think.

_Knock. Knock._

"Open up Dumbledore, we know you're in there. I can sense magical presence, or don't you remember?" Came a raspy voice that Sari vaguely recognized.

"Minerva?" She called out towards the door. "Minerva, is that you?"

"Sari, child, open the door, please. I do not want to stand out here with everyone much longer.

"Of course, of course!" Sari rushed over to open the door. Minerva must have taken a potion or something, for her voice was no longer weak and she could speak without her words coming out in gasps. That's why she didn't recognize her right away. As she pulled open the heavy door, there stood Minerva and Andromeda along with the little girl only Sari could see.

"Well, Sari, you sure do run rather fast." Andromeda said cheerfully, grinning at the girl.

"I'm sorry I ran off like that. I just had to see everybody again. If you knew that your family was right there, only a little ways off, wouldn't you run too?"

"Yes, I do believe I would." Andromeda replied.

"As would I." The little girl said.

"I never caught your name. What is it?"

"My name? I have several. The Wanderer, the Vanquisher, the Ghost. But, you can call me Bree."

"Hi Bree. I'm Sari."

"Hello Sari. How are you?"

"Fine, thanks. And yourself?"

"Better now I'm out of that prison. I was there for too long."

"How long were you there?"

"About three years. My family was murdered in front of me, and then I was dragged off."

"How old were you?"

"She was just two, Sari. But she could speak and completely comprehend all of her surroundings. Bree here has been prophesized about several times before her birth. Very few can see her, so it was unlucky that she was even found. However, it is good to have you back, dear."

"Dumbledore, good to see you."

"But of course. All of you, come in, please. Ah, Minerva. And why, may I ask, are you here?"

"I need protection just as much as the rest of the prisoners, Albus. Not for as long, however. Once I am fully well, I will be away from this place."

"Hm… well, come in for now." Dumbledore said, appearing slightly skeptical about Minerva.

"Dumbledore, what have you heard about Ted? Any news? Any at all? Or Nymphadora?" Andromeda asked fervently. "I've been so worried. Did they only get me? Is my family safe? Dumbledore… what about Bella?"

"Andromeda, sit, please. I will tell you, but just wait. I would like to hear the story of what happened to Ms. Rajesh before her friends arrive and I lose her to them. All of your questions will be answered. For now, rest easy with the fact that both Nymphadora and Ted are safe and well cared for. You will be able to see them soon." Dumbledore said before turning to Sari. "Now, Ms. Rajesh, if you would please tell me about everything. Start at the point where you were taken in Hogsmeade."

"Okay. Well, as you know, the seven of us, Remus, Lily, Kay, Tara, Sirius, James and myself, went into Hogsmeade for the day. We were fooling around, and talking when I saw this really beautiful dress in a boutique window. I had to stop and look at it. I knew I'd be separated from the group a bit, but we were all in really good disguises with code names and everything. I didn't think anything could happen. It was just too good of a day for it to, you know? And then all of a sudden I heard this thump from the alley next to the boutique and I go to check it out. They were a little bit in front of me, but if I saw something I was frightened of, I could yell or run to them- they weren't that far ahead. So I poked my head around the corner and I saw these two men in black. They had their backs to me and were discussing something. Then, all of a sudden, one turns around and grins at me from under a Death Eater mask. I was frozen stock still with fear and a third Death Eater came up from behind and stupefied me. The next thing I knew, I was in the dungeons." Sari said. Telling her story felt good- like a huge weight was being lifted off of her chest. It felt good to finally talk to somebody again, and now that she was out of the dungeons she was free- as free as a bird to be herself again.

"Mrs. Malfoy, please, I am your humble servant. What is it you are looking for? We have so much to offer here." The manager of a small boutique said, bowing and kissing Narcissa's hand.

"I was just browsing, thank you."

"Are you sure? We have the most beautiful dresses in the back. We haven't put them out yet, but for you, anything, Madame."

"I will call for you if I need anything, thank you."

"Of course, of course." The manager bowed again, recognizing the clear dismissal.

Narcissa continued her way through the store, rifling in the clothes. There were some excellent sunglasses, but she already had a very nice pair in her bag. She didn't really need anything new, but it was nice to take a little time to go shopping. She glanced quickly at her watch… 10:45. She had fifteen minutes, but she was couldn't stand just waiting around anymore. She didn't mind being early, she wanted out of this wretched place. She walked out of the boutique with the manager shouting thanks behind her, and started her way down the small main street.

"Hello?" She said as she entered the dingy little bar at the end of the street. Nobody was there, so she went right up and sat down at the bar to wait. She tpaped her fingers on the counter, and checked her watch again. 10:47. She fixed up her makeup a bit and checked her watch again. 10:47. She sighed. This was going to be a long 13 minutes.

"'Lo?" Came a voice. "Some un' there? 'Old on jus' a sec, I gotta find me pants…"

Narcissa raised her eyebrows. "Erm… are you open?"

"Yeah, yeah." A tall old guy came through a curtain leading up to the space behind the bar. "Mos' th' time people don't really come til round abou' four or five or so in th' afternoon, ya know?"

"Yeah, I guess. It is kind of a weird time. But I really just want some soda, please."

"Cola 'r orange 'r summat like that?"

"Cola would be great, thank you."

"Comin' right up, ma'am."

"Thank you very much." Narcissa said warmly, checking her watch again. 10:52. Only eight more minutes, and who was to say he wouldn't be early? She just prayed he wasn't late. There were so many what if's in her plan, but it had been finished hastily because of the date of the wedding. Now the whole thing could totally fall apart while she watched. She knew that they had gotten out safely, she had been able to check the keys before she and Lucius left for the honeymoon. Now she just had to make sure they had gotten to Dumbledore and she had to go there herself.

"Gold?" Came a deep voice behind her. "Narcissa! How are you?"

"Here's your cola, ma'am."

"Thank you so much." Narcissa said to the bartender. "Frank, thank goodness. I was worried you weren't coming."

"'Course I'm coming. I have Ali to think about. If the Death Eaters find out about her, you know that they'll kill her. She's just too good for her own good. So I'm getting out quick."

"Alright. Let's get going. I'm just a little nervous and would like to get out of here quickly."

"Off we go then."

Tara flopped down on her bed, staring at the ceiling. She didn't know where Lily and Kay were, and she didn't really care. She was sick and tired of dealing with Sirius' crap, and she was sick and tired of trying to get him to notice her. He hadn't even noticed that she had returned, and it was driving her crazy. She was going to disappear again, and this time she didn't want to come back. She sprang up, enthused by this idea. Nobody but Lily and Kay would know she had left, and Dumbledore too perhaps. Maybe Sirius would notice then- but y'know, she didn't even care anymore. She was done. No more Sirius, no more stupid drama, no more.

She had learned enough- she might come back for the next term, but she didn't think she wanted to. What would the point be? To learn just a little bit more? Lily could keep her posted on what they learned and stuff- maybe even send her the homework, like what Mary was doing. Maybe she should just go live with Mary. But Mika was still in town, still rooming at the Three Broomsticks for the next two days. She would go back, and she would hang with Mika for a while. She just couldn't deal with this anymore; she had to get out of here.

Quickly, she waved her wand and all her important stuff flew into a bag and neatly packed itself- she'd mastered the spell by herself, it had been very satisfying. She quickly grabbed a quill and a bit of parchment and scribbled something onto it. She duplicated it quickly and put one on Lily's bed, and the other on Kay's. Finally she would be given a little peace and quiet, and time away from the crazy people who dominated her life. She grabbed her bag and walked out the door.

Tara slowly made her way out of the common room and through the corridors of Hogwarts. Lily would explain everything to Dumbledore for her. She just wished Sari was here so that she could say good bye. She was sure it wasn't for the last time, but definitely for a while. She had told Lily and Kay to contact her only if it was really important. Tara's owl was still in the Owlery, and she could find Tara wherever she was.

"Dissendium." Tara said clearly to the one-eyed witch. "Good-bye."

**A/N: I really wanted to make this one nice and long, but this chapter was becoming extremely frustrating. Please review, they mean so much to me.**


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